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For more B2B news visit MAY 1, 2017 Volume 25, Number 19 $3.00 Subscribe online Don't miss being a part of biggest sales lead generation day of the year on June 8th 2017 Introducing the ALL NEW G R E AT E R H A R T F O R D ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S w w w. H a r t f o rd B u s i n e s s . c o m Index ■ Week in Review: PG. 6 ■ The List: PG. 10 ■ Deal Watch: PG. 11 ■ Town Profile: PG. 17 ■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 18 ■ Movers & Shakers: PG. 19 ■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 20 FOCUS: STARTUPS & ENTREPRENEURS Manufactured Farming Hydroponic farming — an eco-friendly way of growing produce in a soilless medium — is gaining popularity in Connecticut, in response to consumers' shift toward locally grown produce, rising food prices and other factors. PG. 8 EXECUTIVE PROFILE Growth Ambitions Glastonbury-based BigMouth Inc., the maker and seller of fun lifestyle products and whacky gifts, has a new CEO, Frank Carpenito, whose goal is to more than double the company's annual revenues to $100 million in a few years. PG. 5 By Matt Pilon mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com L ike a number of other environmentally progressive states, Con- necticut has set ambitious goals to dramatically reduce green- house gas emissions over the next three decades. But achieving those goals, which amount to slashing current emissions roughly in half by 2050, is far from guaranteed. At a lab in East Hartford, a dozen scientists are trying to create a pathway to make it happen. Battery experts at the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) — the R&D arm of Farmington's United Technologies Corp. — are using a $2.7 million cash infusion from the federal government to try to solve a crucial problem — making large-scale energy storage more affordable and commercially viable. CT credit unions putting a fresh face on interactive banking By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com I n recent years, the rise of digi- tal and mobile banking has made managing checking- savings accounts and depositing/ withdrawing cash a more conve- nient, efficient exercise for finan- cial institutions and consumers. But a handful of credit unions in Connecticut and banks nation- wide have taken the first bold steps toward the latest evolution in electronic banking services that marries digital's speed and efficiency with the reassuring presence of a human — interac- tive teller machines (ITMs), or video tellers. First launched a decade ago by a North Carolina members- owned credit cooperative, at least four Connecticut credit unions — Finex in East Hartford; Seasons in Middletown; Achieve in Meriden; and Connex in New Haven — have, with some trial and error, set up ITMs in some half-dozen main offices and ENERGY BOOST UTRC aims to revolutionize grid-scale battery storage United Technologies Research Center engineer Michael Perry in his East Hartford lab, where he is working on battery technology that has the potential to create a boom in renewable energy. Continued on page 16 Finex Credit Union CEO Michael Palladino demonstrates one of the interactive teller machines housed at the East Hartford credit co-op's main branch at 616 Burnside Ave. Continued on page 14 H B J P H O T O | G R E G O R Y S E A Y H B J P H O T O | M A T T P I L O N