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| January 10, 2008 | Volume 12 Issue 2 |
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Editor: George Lipper | |
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(Please scroll down for the full story) -- Shift Happens -- Largest Ever for Utah; Sorenson Closes $400M VC Fund -- A New Web Site for New England VCs to Build Community and Deal Flow -- Ontario Launches $165M Venture Fund to Create 'The Jobs Of The Future' -- Indiana Bubble-Born VC Fund Makes It to the Finish Line -- Lack of Venture Capital Hinders Las Vegas' Desire to Create a Tech Industry -- Columbus, Ohio Region Technology Get a Boost -- The Uphill Challenge of Growing Jobs in Michigan -- Oregon Research Institute to Bring 200 Jobs to Florida in $117.8M Deal -- Wisconsin Governor Proposes Tax Break for VC's that Reinvest in State -- Colorado Eyes Opportunity to Be the Clean-Energy Hub -- In California Industry and Academia Team Up for Stem Cell Funding -- Oklahoma's OCAST Claims Extraordinary 27-1 Return on '07 Investments -- Oregon Universities Join Forces to Collaborate on Tech Transfer -- Iowa Ponders Means to Assure Researchers' Work Rewards Universities -- North Carolina Technology Commercialization Group Helping Foreigners Crack the Market -- Beacon Hill's Annual State Competitive Report - 2007 -- From Idea to Market Place in Australia -- Surprise! Tech Coast Angels Did Fewer Deals in 2007; but with Similar Dollar Amount -- Other Angel Activity -- The Future as Seen by Intel Gets Very Electronically Personal -- Seminars & Conferences Shift Happens With the ambivalence of a politician, I've wrestled with making this the lead or lag story in this week's NetNews. I hope you'll enjoy it. This has been around for nearly a year now. But I just came across it and thought NetNews readers who haven't seen it would find the 5 minute presentation, as we did, a 'wow' experience. Karl Fisch, a high school administrator at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado, pulled together a powerpoint with “some interesting ideas” for teachers at his school. (Later, Scott Mcleod, a professor at the University of Minnesota, generalized the presentation:), the vestion here, made available via the Rimm-Kaufman Group of Charlottesville, Virginia: Karl Fisch Largest Ever for Utah; Sorenson Closes $400M VC Fund Sorenson Capital Partners has raised what some believe is the biggest pool of investment dollars ever amassed by a Utah private-equity firm. The Lehi-based company accumulated $400 million between mid-September and the middle of December from more than 30 investors in Europe and the United States, outstripping the $250 million it raised for another Sorenson investment fund in 2004. "From what I know of the other firms that are based here, that's clearly the largest closing of its kind," says Brad Bertoch, president of the Wayne Brown Institute: Salt Lake Tribune A New Web Site for New England VCs to Build Community and Deal Flow The New England Venture Network, a group founded in 1999 for young venture capitalists in New England, has launched VentureNetwork.vc, the first social networking site exclusively for the venture capital and private equity communities. Members post a profile, but instead of listing their favorite movies, they detail their industry experience, what type of investment deals they're looking for and how much money they're looking to put to work: Worcester Business Journal Ontario Launches $165M Venture Fund to Create 'The Jobs Of The Future' A new $165-million Ontario Venture Capital Fund to help create the jobs of the future by boosting cutting-edge companies in the province. The Ontario government signed a letter of intent with leading Canadian institutional investors -- including OMERS Administration Corporation, RBC Capital Partners, Business Development Bank of Canada and Manulife Financial -- to create the new fund: Press Release Indiana Bubble-Born VC Fund Makes It to the Finish Line Back in 1999, investors in Gazelle TechVentures expected a sprint to spectacular profits. Instead, they got a marathon slog. Now with the finish line finally in sight, Gazelle has outpaced most of its peers in the venture-capital industry—a performance its backers call a victory: Indianapolis Business Journal Lack of Venture Capital Hinders Las Vegas' Desire to Create a Tech Industry No better time than this week, when the world's largest trade show for professional techno-geeks is in town, to regonize how few of them work here. More than 2,700 businesses displayed their newest wares at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Only 11 are from Nevada. The technology landscape in Vegas is slowly developing, expanding beyond gaming-related technologies, into telecommunications, biotech, video game software and other areas. But it has a long way to go, say entrepreneurs and investors who are pushing hard to cultivate the industry: Las Vegas Sun Columbus Ohio Region Technology Get a Boost When TechColumbus leaders looked around central Ohio in recent years, they saw the region's potential to become a tech hot spot. What they didn't find was enough funding for early stage endeavors, or the kind of expertise needed to help tech companies prosper. Now, armed with $22.5 million in new funding, the nonprofit group is implementing a plan to address the area's technology shortcomings: Columbus Dispatch And the Dispatch weighed in with some editorial applause: Columbus Dispatch The Uphill Challenge of Growing Jobs in Michigan If you detect a hint of frustration occasionally in the voice of Jim Epolito, well, you'd be frustrated, too, if you were him. For the past 28 months -- but who's counting? -- Epolito has been president and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the quasi-public state agency charged with business attraction and retention. No matter how you read the jobs data, Epolito has seen more jobs disappear in Michigan on his watch than he created. It's the hazard that attends a single industry town (or state): Detroit Free Press But Michigan leaders are not just sitting quitely on the sidelines. The New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan, a coalition of foundations hoping to spark economic growth in the seven-county metro Detroit region, said Tuesday it has begun accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations for projects. The goal is to help accelerate the transition of metro Detroit to an innovation-based economy: Detroit Free Press Oregon Research Institute to Bring 200 Jobs to Florida in $117.8M Deal And yet again. Florida's billion dollar initiate to attract biotech research institutions succeeds with an Oregon-based vaccine and gene-therapy research institute, which will open a 130,000-square-foot campus at Port St. Lucie within three years, enticed by a $117.8 million state and local incentive package, local officials announced today. The Oregon Health & Science University's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute intends to create 200 local jobs over the next 10 years, boosting Port St. Lucie's young biotech sector by adding a second West Coast player: Palm Beach Post The decision consumes the remainder of the funds Florida committed to the unique economic development project, which has five confirmed institutions in Orlando, Oalm Beach and Port St. Lucie and one, Max Planck Institute of Germany, not yet finalized: Palm Beach Post Scripps Florida, the first to strike a deal, has grown by 232 scientists and technicians in 2007, and could make great strides in 2008. The research center is crammed into temporary quarters at Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter campus, but scientists hope to move into Scripps' three permanent buildings in October: Palm Beach Post Wisconsin Governor Proposes Tax Break for VC's that Reinvest in State Some Wisconsin investors should be allowed to avoid paying taxes on capital gains if they reinvest the money in emerging state companies, Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday. The proposal is part of what Doyle is calling his Accelerate Wisconsin plan, which encourages investment in new, high-tech businesses. It is among the proposals that the governor will include in his State of the State address later this month: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Tom Still, Wisconsin Technology President, writes that the state's economy is like the underachieving student who should be earning top grades, but who seems content to bring home a report card filled with Cs. Improving the state’s business climate grades is the challenge Gov. Jim Doyle faces this week as he unveils elements of his latest economic development plan, the third in his “Grow Wisconsin” series. His goal is simple: Break out of the ranks of the also-rans and compete with the A students: Tom Still It may be difficult to get excited about the effectiveness of the wide range of economic development efforts in Wisconsin in the face of some less-than-thrilling metrics. An initial reaction to the generally worsening metrics might be to say the hell with all the economic development initiatives. But a more mature reflection is to ask: Where would we be without them, and what can we do better? Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Yet it's encouraging to have a gain occasionally during the transition. Uline, a privately held, family-run company that distributes boxes, bubble-wrap and other goods used for shipping, says it agreed to accept over $6 million in incentives and aid from Wisconsin in order to build a new distribution center and company headquarters. In the process, Uline will bring 1,000 jobs to the Wisconsin side of the state border by 2010: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Colorado Eyes Opportunity to Be the Clean-Energy Hub Colorado has the potential to be a huge exporter of renewable energy, according to a new resource report compiled by Colorado energy officials. But the clean-energy potential and its economic benefits carry a major caveat: whether billions of dollars can be raised to build the power facilities and the transmission lines needed to transport the energy: Denver Post Consumer electronics aren't exactly easy on the environment -- they consume electricity that contributes to global warming, and toxins leach out of them when they land in landfills. But the industry that's inviting us to get a new cell phone every year and toss out that old TV in favor of a great new flat panel is also trying to show that it cares: Las Vegas Review Journal In California Industry and Academia Team Up for Stem Cell Funding For the first time in its three-year existence, the state taxpayer-funded stem cell institute is offering grant money to biotechnology companies. Ten companies, including at least two in San Diego, said they plan to apply for money for so-called disease teams, a cutting-edge concept of bringing academia and industry together to share expertise and perhaps speed the lengthy and expensive process of getting new therapies and diagnostics to market: San Diego Union Tribune San Francisco investment banker John Scully and his wife, Regina, have donated $20 million to Stanford's medical school and hospital to help expand stem-cell research at the university: San Jose Mercury News Oklahoma's OCAST Claims Extraordinary 27-1 Return on '07 Investments Oklahoma's technology-based economic development agency backed its $40 million budget request for fiscal 2009 Tuesday with a jaw-dropping return-on-investment report. The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology reported that the 15.3 million tax dollars appropriated to the agency for fiscal 2007 returned a whopping $414 million, or $27.02 for every $1 invested: The Oklahoman Oregon Universities Join Forces to Collaborate on Tech Transfer An innovative Web portal listing new technologies developed at Oregon's universities could drive new investment and new business in the state. Technology transfer officials at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland State University, Oregon State University and University of Oregon are working together to create an online listing of all university research available for licensing at their institutions. Called the Oregon Innovation Portal, the idea is to attract investors and companies that want to find university research they can turn into lucrative products and services. That should lead to more university spinouts and bring valuable licensing revenue to the universities: Portland Business Journal Iowa Ponders Means to Assure Researchers' Work Rewards Universities Hoping to spark more spinoffs, Iowa state leaders have invested $30 million in Iowa universities over the past two fiscal years to push commercial development. But as pressure mounts for new jobs and investment, state leaders are asking: How do we best determine if the effort will be successful? Des Moines Register North Carolina Technology Commercialization Group Helping Foreigners Crack the Market Kenneth West and his colleagues do a lot of hand-holding on the job. The five executives make up Technology Commercialization Group, and they make their living by helping foreign companies move into North Carolina. Such work is left to the state's Department of Commerce and various economic groups, but the reality is that those groups go after large companies with big budgets and work forces: Raleigh News & Observer Beacon Hill's Annual State Competitive Report - 2007 Utah replaces Massachusetts in the top spot of the competitiveness index, moving up from second in 2006. The Bay State slipped slightly in several categories including minimum wages, union membership participation and a failure to improve in housing and infrastructure. Nonetheless, Massachusetts which finished first in 2006 and 2005, continues to rank in the top ten based upon strong showing in human services, finance, and technology subindexes. Washington is the only new entrant to the top ten this year improving from 13th to 7th and displacing Virginia which moves to 16th. Montana made the largest improvement this year, moving up from 28th to 15th, while the most prominent drop in rank belongs to Michigan, moving 7 places down from 34th to 41st: Beacon Hill From Idea to Market Place in Australia Market failure in the availability of equity capital for early-stage businesses is the subject of extensive studies around the world. The OECD and others have found a positive link between venture capital investment and economic growth and restructuring. Consequently, there is a case for Government intervention to address the ‘capital gap’ and stimulate equity investment in early-stage companies. Amanda Heyworth, CEO for Playford Capital in Adelaide, South Austrailia offered this interesting perspective in a recent presentation in Portugal: Amanda Heyworth Surprise! Tech Coast Angels Did Fewer Deals in 2007; but with Similar Dollar Amount Members of Tech Coast Angels, the Southern California group of investors in early-stage companies, put money into half as many deals in 2007 as they did in 2006. The final dollar amount invested is still being tallied but appears to be down slightly from the $11.1 million of 2006: Orange County Register The Central Texas Angel Network reports that its members provided $1.2 million in funding to early-stage companies in 2007. Nine Texas-based companies received funding from the group last year to help grow and expand their businesses: dBusiness News Other Angel Activity If you think that business angels are just wealthy private investors who provide equity funding then think again. “Angels at the end of the day provide more than just cash,” says Alex Macpherson of Octopus Ventures Ltd. “The crucial element comes in providing that knowledge and skill-set.” UK ExecDigital When Cheryl Snead, president and CEO of Banneker Industries Inc., wanted to grow her woman-owned business, she knew the key to that success was securing funding. So she decided to find an angel: Boston Herald When Siamak Taghaddos and David Hauser got together at Babson College to launch a startup aimed at providing very small businesses and entrepreneurs with a voice-mail service, they knew their chosen market had traditionally proven an elusive target. And they decided to largely bootstrap the business with the help of around $1 million from friends, family and angel investors, eschewing traditional venture capital. The two believe the financial discipline has paid off: Boston Business Journal Founders of the Texas Women Ventures Fund had a simple enough goal when they started out six years ago: nurture women-owned companies that might otherwise fall short of their potential. With enthusiastic financial backing from prominent North Texans – largely women, but also oilman Ray Hunt – the fund has raised $5.2 million and made its debut investments in three local entrepreneurs last year: Dallas Morning News The Future as Seen by Intel Gets Very Electronically Personal In Intel CEO Paul Otellini's vision, hand-held devices of the future - powered by a new-generation of Intel chips - will instantly translate street signs from one language to another and do near-instant voice translations between people of different countries who meet on the street. They'll also be able to recognize their surroundings so well that they'll be able to point out to users where the nearest bathroom is: San Jose Mercury News Meanwhile Intel is betting on a big expansion of "ultra-mobile" computing, an idea that depends on people being willing to tote around a portable device beyond their ubiquitous cell phones: Arizona Republic Investor and Entrepreneur Seminars & Conferences Detroit, MI Sept. 10-12, 2008 - 15th Annual Conference of the National Association of Seed & Venture Funds Registration Not Yet Open Offered by Our Friends: Tysons Corner,VA February 27-28, 2008 - Southeast Venture Conference Conference Southeast Venture Conference San Diego, CA May 7-9, 2008 - Angel Capital Association Summit Conference Angel Capital Association Ann Arbor (Ypsilanti), MI May 14-15, 2008 - 27th Annual Michigan Growth Capital Symposium Michigan Growth Capital Symposium Subscribe to NASVF NetNews Unsubscribe from NASVF NetNews 
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