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| July 3, 2008 | Volume 12 Issue 26 |
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Editor: George Lipper | |
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(Please scroll down for the full story) -- Michigan! Ohio! Indiana! Ontario! It's Your Advantage -- For VCs, an Existential Dilemma: Exit Doors Closed -- NVCA Spent a Half-Million in First Quarter Lobbying -- Despite Tech Boom, Venture Activity in Upstate NY Is Sluggish -- Maryland’s Pension Money May Back Biotech Companies -- Survey: Growing NJ Biotech Industry Still Needs Early Funding -- Atlanta's Biotech Cluster Concept Blooms -- Biotech Moves Ahead in Alabama, but Dearth of VC Remains an Issue -- Jobs Fund Applications Showcase Michigan's Shifting Economic Focus -- Ohio's Third Frontier Advisers in Cleveland to Promote the Program -- Kentucky's Help for Startups Pays Off -- Start-ups from UW's Research Fuel the Wisconsin's Economy -- Sowing the Seeds: Barbe Transforms Program into Breeding Ground for Maryland Startups -- Arizona Approves a State Research and Development Income Tax Credit -- Microsoft Vice President Nurtures Relations with Startups -- Young Businesses, Economic Churning, and Productivity Gains -- Business Plan Competitions: For the Winner, a Chance of Stardom -- U.S. High Tech Said to Slip -- H-1B Issue Pits Tech Workers Against Farm Groups -- Futurist Ed Barlow Says Technology, Globalization Changing the Future -- Angel Appearances: Galesburg, Hattiesburg -- Seminars & Conferences Michigan! Ohio! Indiana! Ontario! It's Your Advantage You all within easy travel demands for the chrystal anniversary gathering for NASVF popular conference, this year in Detroit at the Marriott Rennaisance. You's be smart to take advantage of the early signup discount; and sign up today. Take a look at the program we've lined up for your continuing education, then register while the cost is nominal. We are anxious to see you at this, the premier networking event for those in regional venture capital, angel investing, economic growth and development, technology transfer, and other strategies to help transform the economy and become competitive in new emerging growth climate. For VCs, an Existential Dilemma: Exit Doors Closed As in the Jean-Paul Sartre play “No Exit,” venture capitalists are facing an existential dilemma. They are funding and developing companies with no immediate path to reward their limited partner investors. In the second quarter not a single venture-backed company staged an initial public offering, the first time in 30 years that there was a complete shutout, according to the National Venture Capital Association. Also down were mergers and acquisitions involving venture-backed companies. For the quarter, the NVCA counted 50 deals worth a total of $2.4 billion. That meant first half’s total of 120 M&A deals declined 28 percent versus the first half of 2007: Red Herring I could have chose any of dozen of stories this week as venture capital trackers looked for analogies or historical references to point to the dilemma., none more commanding than that of the National Venture Capital Association itself, who termed the situation a Crisis not just for the industry, but also for the entrepreneurs in search of venture support, as they looked as less than a half dozen IPOs for the year to date: National Venture Capital Assocation And backed that up with the revalation of a power point to show the alarm of its membership: National Venture Capital Association But not all are prepared to buy into that cry of distress. Scott Duke Harris', launching a new MercuryNews column, 'Risky Business,' raises some skepticism about the 'Crisis' terminology NVCA has attached to current statistics. He quotes Todd Dagres of Spark Capital as dismissive of the NVCA's talk that the entrepreneurial world faces a "crisis": "The data is artificial. Facebook and several other privates could have gone public but chose not to. The issue is liquidity. If a private company sells to a public company - it's similar to going public with less risk." San Jose Mercury News Fred Wilson, blogging about the state of the economy and its immediate prospects, turns his eye toward venture capital. "What should we do about it? Well first, we need to be careful with valuations. If financial assets are going to be subject to downward pressure then inflated valuations will not be sustainable. We need to be careful with the amount of money we invest and burn. Companies that are capital efficient and cash flow positive will fare better in this environment. And we need to be prepared to wait a long time for liquidity:" Istock Analyst In just a couple of weeks, we'll see if the VCs were bussier on the other side of their endeavors, when 3rd quarter investment statistics are unveiled by Money Tree and VentureOne. NVCA Spent a Half-Million in First Quarter Lobbying The National Venture Capital Association spent over $498,000 in the first quarter lobbying on tax rules and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report: Forbes And Silicon Valley Bank says it still prefers venture capital to real estate. Apart from holding a handful of mortgages for a few very wealthy clients, the bank stays away from real estate -- which in turn marks it out from most banks, where such lending is a central part of their loan portfolios. Instead, Silicon Valley Bank prefers an area that makes other bankers nervous: venture firms and the high-growth companies they back: San Francisco Business Times Despite Tech Boom, Venture Activity in Upstate NY Is Sluggish Although the Capital Region has done well in developing its entrepreneurial spirit, it lags behind other upstate New York regions right now in creating the kind of robust scene attractive to venture funds. Rochester is cited as the 'hot spot':: Albany Business Journal In the spring of 2007, Michael Sullivan was trying to figure out how to add some mojo to his startup, Affine Systems. As a graduate student in applied mathematics at Harvard University, Sullivan had co-founded the company in the fall of 2006 with classmate Bobby Impollonia. Working out of their homes, the two computer whizzes had whipped up a software program to let media companies know if their copyrighted videos show up on the Internet. But like many engineers, they didn't know much about business, and they hadn't yet put together a business plan: Business Week Maryland’s Pension Money May Back Biotech Companies If Maryland follows through on a suggestion by Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot to invest some $1 billion in state pension funds in local biotechnology companies and environmentally ‘‘green” technology businesses, it won’t be the first state to do so. Several states, including California, Indiana and New Jersey, already invest some pension money in funds designed to go to local bioscience or green ventures. And they are having success in supporting the local companies, advocates say: The Business Gazette Survey: Growing NJ Biotech Industry Still Needs Early Funding A new survey by BioNJ, a trade group, finds the state's biotech industry is growing and becoming more mature. There are still challenges, however. Sixty-four percent of companies in the survey, conducted by Ernst & Young, reported no product sales of any kind: Newark Star-Ledger The BioNJStudy Atlanta's Biotech Cluster Concept Blooms A blueprint to develop a public-private partnership that would attract and grow medical and life sciences companies to metro Atlanta promises to inject thousands of new jobs into the area. The idea behind developing a health-care cluster -- still mostly conceptual -- plays off leveraging the region's health-care infrastructure: Atlanta Business Chronicle Biotech Moves Ahead in Alabama, but Dearth of VC Remains an Issue Alabama has experienced a recent surge in bioscience activity and is among national leaders in bioscience patents, but the state still lags behind in biotech venture capital investments: Birmingham Business Journal Jobs Fund Applications Showcase Michigan's Shifting Economic Focus More than 100 entrepreneurial Michigan companies have asked the state for 15 times the amount of money it's expected to distribute this fall through the 21st Century Jobs Fund. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation plans to distribute $30 million in low-cost loans, but 109 firms filed applications in June requesting more than $451 million. Someone's going to be disappointed: Ann Arbor Business Review An Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm has begun raising money for a $30 million technology growth fund to be based at Oakland University. While two existing VC firms in Oakland County specialize in specific niches, the new fund would be the first general-purpose VC fund in Oakland County: Oakland Business Review Ohio's Third Frontier Advisers in Cleveland to Promote the Program Third Frontier advisers stopped in Independence during a statewide tour on Tuesday to explain what Ohio's biggest economic development project has on its plate in the coming year. Third Frontier is the $1.6 billion, 10-year project to develop Ohio's technology economy. The project is scheduled to sunset in 2012, though its advisers already are talking about a next generation: Cleveland Plain Dealer Kentucky's Help for Startups Pays Off Kentucky's investments in high-tech startups are paying off with an expanding pool of entrepreneurs and a growing number of "new economy" businesses, according to Deborah Clayton, commissioner of the state's Department of Commercialization and Innovation: Louisville Courier-Journal Start-ups from UW's Research Fuel the Wisconsin's Economy One of the most successful university-affiliated research parks in the country, Madison's University Research Park provides lab space, infrastructure and a campus-like atmosphere to nurture nascent companies in its business incubator, the MGE Innovation Center. Maturing companies can move into stand-alone lab space or build facilities within the 255-acre research park: Capitol Region Business Journal The Wisconsin foundation that holds several key embryonic stem cell patents said Thursday that it has received certificates signaling the end of a long-fought challenge to the patents: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sowing the Seeds: Barbe Transforms Program into Breeding Ground for Maryland Startups More than two decades ago, David F. Barbe probably did not think his decision to leave a lucrative federal job for one leading a state university program would one day help turn Maryland into a national technology and science leader. Since 1985, this professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, has helped steer the university’s Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute — Mtech — into national prominence among university tech programs and into a significant business generator for the state: Business Gazette Arizona Approves a State Research and Development Income Tax Credit The Arizona Technology Council is celebrating passage of a state Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credit designed to stimulate innovation and foster global competitiveness in Arizona based firms: Arizona Technology Council Microsoft Vice President Nurtures Relations with Startups Dan'l Lewin's chief task when he joined Microsoft seven years ago was to improve relations between the software giant and Silicon Valley. How did he do? San Francisco Chronicle In reinventing itself, Microsoft is looking to One Memorial Drive in Camridge, Massachusetts for a dose of innovation. That will be the home of Microsoft's Boston Concept Development Center, a first-of-its-kind research unit that's assembling dozens of engineers and designers and sniffing out technologies with the aim of incubating new Internet businesses within the company: Young Businesses, Economic Churning, and Productivity Gains The current economic turmoil arouses much anxiety and concern among the public, the business sector, and the policy-making community. Eventually, however, the economy will recover and resume sustained growth, just as it has after previous slowdowns or recessions. But some turmoil—specifically the churning of firms and jobs—will continue even in good times. It is inherent in any dynamic capitalist economy that some firms thrive and grow while others decline and sometimes fail. The essay, writes Kauffman's Time Kane, summarizes recent economic research on the key role this churning process plays in enhancing economywide: Kauffman Foundation Kane will be a presenter at the upcoming NASVF Annual Conference in Detroit Business Plan Competitions: For the Winner, a Chance of Stardom For business school students wishing to test what they have learned in a practical setting, there are few opportunities to rival the business plan contest. For entrepreneurs who have struggled to get in front of angel investors and venture capitalists, business plan contests have turned out to be an excellent way to pitch and even raise seed capital: Financial Times U.S. High Tech Said to Slip The United States may be synonymous with the high-tech revolution, but it is in danger of losing its high-tech edge, according to Cybercities 2008, a report released Tuesday by AeA, a technology industry trade association. Because the federal government does not issue a sufficient number of green cards or work visas to talented foreign students studying here, there are a “tremendous number of unfilled jobs,” said Christopher Hansen, AeA’s chief executive: New York Times H-1B Issue Pits Tech Workers Against Farm Groups When U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren led a U.S. House hearing earlier this month on bills that would make it easier for highly educated foreign tech workers to stay in the U.S., she had almost everything she needed to make her case. Underscore the word almost: Computer World Futurist Ed Barlow Says Technology, Globalization Changing the Future Ed Barlow paints a bleak picture for those who are not ready to embrace technology and globalization. For those who are ready, he presents a challenge. "We are entering a time of incredible -- and I mean incredible -- structural change in the world as we know it," he said. "No person, no industry, no profession, no organization, no community is exempt from this structural change." Ann Arbor News Angel Appearances: Galesburg, Hattiesburg Although they’re not exactly guardian angels, money invested in start-up companies by “angel” investors may help owners of some small businesses feel that someone is indeed watching over them. About 65 people gathered earlier this week in Galesburg to hear a presentation by Dr. Ronald Kirschner, CEO, president and founder of Heartland Angels: Galesburg Mail It's a dilemma. A young entrepreneur has a brilliant cutting-edge idea he wants to market. He can't get any investors without a prototype. He can't build a prototype without capital from investors. What he needs is an angel: Hattiesburg American Investor and Entrepreneur Seminars & Conferences Detroit, MI Sept. 10-12, 2008 - 15th Annual Conference of the National Association of Seed & Venture Funds Early Bird Registration Now Open Offered by Our Friends: Wichita, KS, ID September 4, 2008 -5th Annual Great Plains Capital Conference Great Plains Capital Conference Sun Valley, ID September 9-11, 2008 - Venture Capital in the Rockies Venture Capital in the Rockies Baltimore, MD September 18 2008 - Johns Hopkins Neuroscience Investors Conference Johns Hopkins Neuroscience Investors Conference Sioux Falls, SD October 22, 2008 - South Dakota Innovation Expo South Dakota Enterprise Institute Subscribe to NASVF NetNews Unsubscribe from NASVF NetNews 
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   TheMissouri Innovation Center (MIC) is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1984 with initial funding from the State of Missouri. Its purpose is economic development through creation and incubation of innovative high-growth ventures. MIC's goal is to grow the life science and technology industry cluster in mid-Missouri.  NASVF is accepting membership inquiries from organizations and individuals who build their local economies through investment and facilitation of investment in entrepreneurial ventures. Review our Member Benefits and submit your Inquiry Form today! Members Have a tough seed/venture capital question? Let NASVF provide the answers! Check out the newest member-only feature, "AskNASVF". This member exclusive email service is provided to help our members network and learn among the industry's top innovation capital leaders.   |