Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC (http://www.piedmontRIA.com), through its affiliate Militello Capital, is pleased to announce it made a venture capital investment in Arlington, Virginia based Lemur Technologies, Inc. (http://www.lemurims.com) on June 4, 2012.

Lemur is a software platform that saves big box retailers hundreds of millions of dollars. By localizing inventory and customer information, Lemur optimally prices product and communicates with local, targeted, and engaged customers in real-time.

Currently, according to Lemur CEO and co-founder Will Fuentes, retailers use blind discounting or discount websites to sell slow moving or aged inventory, costing approximately $120 billion per year. Lemur not only enables stores to move aged and slow moving inventory at higher revenue and profit but creates unique social shopping experiences that drive customer loyalty. Lemur creates measurable savings for retailers in the hundreds of millions of dollars, while also creating multiple opportunities to differentiate the customer experience and drive incremental revenue.

According to William Militello, Founder of Piedmont Investment Advisors, "I am always excited to fund great entrepreneurs like Will Fuentes. I believe that true innovation occurs when skilled labor, intellectual capital, and entrepreneurs with great ideas are combined with the financial capital we can provide."

Fuentes says, "Lemur allows retailers to replicate the very best managers and salespeople across the entire enterprise. Our system drives revenue, profit, and the very best in customer experience. We are excited to be working with Piedmont. We chose to take an investment from Piedmont because like us their philosophy is driven by providing the very best customer service. Having an investor that understands this was critically important to us."

Furthermore, according to Matthew Brady, Piedmont's Managing Director, "Will and his team at Lemur are well-positioned to solve a huge problem for retailers. We are delighted to bring this opportunity to our clients and investors."

The VC investment in Lemur Technologies, Inc. is one of many made by Militello Capital through its new venture capital fund.

Lemur Technologies, Inc.

Lemur was founded with experienced professionals from retail, design and programming. Understanding that slow-moving and aged inventory is a huge drain on resources and profits we set out to create a solution. Leveraging our varied backgrounds and knowledge we have created a SaaS that is easily implemented and immediately impactful.

Recognizing the issues a big box retail manager faces on a daily basis we have designed our software to minimize their workload while driving additional revenue. At the same time we believe the best way for a store to be successful is to capitalize on its native resources. The biggest of which are the local customers. Creating a solution that combines unique inventory and local customer data Lemur IMS creates differentiated customer experience that drives loyalty and profits. Lemur offers higher quality service for your customers.

Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC

Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC, located in Lansdowne (Leesburg) Virginia, is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. When Bill Militello, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, founded Piedmont Investment Advisors in 2003, he set out to create not just another financial advisor or boutique investment firm, but rather to create a new "category" in financial services.