30 Firms Make Their Pitch at InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum; Event Provides Midwestern Entrepreneurs with Critical Link to Investors.ST. LOUIS -- The entrepreneurial vision that lies behind the creation of new drugs and medical devices, drives the creation of cost reduction strategies in the manufacturing field, and paves the way for women to enjoy the benefits of made-to-measure swimsuits, was on display this week at the 7th Annual InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum. Held April 5-6, 2006 at A.G. Edwards National Headquarters in St. Louis, the event featured 30 entrepreneurial growth companies from 12 Midwestern states who spent the past several months preparing to share their business plans with an audience representing more than 60 of the nation's top venture capitalists Venture Capitalist An investor who provides capital to either start-up ventures or support small companies who wish to expand but do not have access to public funding. Notes: Venture capitalists usually expect higher returns for the additional risks taken. , corporate and private investors, and investment bankers Investment Banker A person representing a financial institution that is in the business of raising capital for corporations and municipalities. Notes: An investment banker may not accept deposits or make commercial loans. . In all, more than 300 gathered for the forum, a record number for the St. Louis event. "Because participation in the forum can serve as a springboard to take their businesses to the next level, the excitement was high leading into the presentations," notes Chris Walsh Chris Walsh (born December 12, 1968 in Cleveland, Ohio), is a former American football wide receiver who played 11 seasons in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings. He played college football at Stanford University. , executive director of InvestMidwest, whose mission is to provide access to equity capital for emerging, privately held companies privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. seeking venture funds from $1 million to $20 million. Since its first Forum, held in St. Louis in May 2000, InvestMidwest has helped generate more than $250 million in equity investments for innovative entrepreneurial growth companies and has grown into the Midwest's premier annual venture capital forum. Nearly half of the presenters from the 2005 event have raised funding totaling more than $50 million since participating in the forum. Like last year, InvestMidwest had two separate industry tracks of companies presenting concurrently: a life sciences track and a technology/general business track. This year's selected presenters include companies from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Ten of the presenting companies were from the St. Louis area and seven were from the Kansas City Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). area. (See attached list). Selection of presenting companies was based on: a company's business purpose, management team, products or services, marketing strategy, market opportunity and financial summary. The selection committee looks for growth-oriented companies that show potential to generate $20 million in annual revenue growth within five years. Among this year's presenters are companies offering products or services that could dramatically impact the healthcare industry, as well as those that are addressing aspects of headline news issues, such as preventing the spread of Mad Cow Disease mad cow disease: see prion. mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) Fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include behavioral changes (e.g. . Examples include St. Louis, Mo.-based Somark Innovations, a biotechnology company that has developed an identification and tracking system that utilizes a unique biocompatible material biocompatible material, n a substance that does not threaten, impede, or adversely affect living tissue. (U.S. Patent Pending) that possesses radio frequency identification-like functionality without the use of a microchip or antenna. The technology can identify and track animals, humans or retail products, but Somark will initially focus on the government mandated livestock market where opportunity exists in the wake of concern over Mad Cow Disease. Inverseon, Inc., based in Overland Park Overland Park, city (1990 pop. 111,790), Johnson co., NE Kans., a residential suburb of Kansas City; inc. 1960. There is printing and publishing, and the manufacture of apparel, aircraft parts, cement, prepared foods, salt, chemicals, marine accessories, and signs. , KS, is a clinical-stage company developing an oral asthma drug that up-regulates beta receptors and has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of asthma in the same way that beta blockers Beta Blockers Definition Beta blockers are medicines that affect the body's response to certain nerve impulses. This, in turn, decreases the force and rate of the heart's contractions, which lowers blood pressure and reduces the heart's demand for did for congestive heart failure congestive heart failure, inability of the heart to expel sufficient blood to keep pace with the metabolic demands of the body. In the healthy individual the heart can tolerate large increases of workload for a considerable length of time. , for which they are now the standard of care. (Information summarizing all this year's presenters is attached) A third of the companies who participated in this year's event already had secured venture investment totaling more than $67 million. Half of the presenting companies already had angel investment totaling more than $23 million. Walsh notes, "These numbers illustrate the strength and viability of these companies as investment opportunities, and this week's presentations just underscored the potential that exists right here in the Midwest. They were very well received by our attendees." As another highlight of the 2006 forum, Peter Diamandis Peter H. Diamandis (born 20 May 1961 in Bronx, New York) is considered a key American figure in the development of the personal spaceflight industry, having created many space-related businesses or organizations. , chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of the X Prize Foundation, shared insights from his entrepreneurial experiences as the keynote speaker on April 6th. He is now using his prize model to enable technological breakthroughs in other areas, such as energy and environmental management, genomics, nanotechnology, and medicine. Dr. Diamandis told the audience that the most critical tool for success "is a committed, passionate mind," and outlined how the prize model helps to stimulate innovation because it changes people's mindset mind·set or mind-set n. 1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations. 2. An inclination or a habit. from "can this happen" to "when will it happen". Attendees also heard from a panel of winning entrepreneurs who discussed their experiences in leading successful liquidity events, and a second panel of Limited Partnership professionals who outlined their current take on venture investing venture investing The acquiring of a stake in a start-up company by a brokerage firm or analyst by obtaining discounted, pre-IPO shares. Critics claim venture investing causes analysts to have a vested interest in seeing a stock appreciate in value and so . (For panel details, visit www.investmidwestforum.com). The 7th Annual InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum's Founding Sponsors are the Danforth Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Organizational Sponsors are the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association The Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA) is the chamber of commerce and primary economic development agency for Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis RCGA has three primary roles: 1) to serve as the regional chamber of commerce for over 4,000 member (RCGA RCGA St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association RCGA Royal Canadian Golf Association ), Missouri Venture Forum, RCGA's Technology Gateway, The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, KCSourceLink, and the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC KTEC Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation ). For more information, visit www.investmidwestforum.com or call 314.444.1151. Complete List of Presenters Life Sciences Track Affinex, LLC - Location: Overland Park, KS Apolmmune, Inc. - Location: Louisville, KY CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - Location: Indianapolis, IN ImmunoGenetix - Location: Lenexa, KS Interventional Imaging, Inc. - Location: Cleveland, OH Inverseon, Inc. - Locations: Overland Park, KS and San Francisco, CA ISTO Technologies - Location: St. Louis, Mo. Kereos - Location: Saint Louis, MO MedAccuracy, LLC - Location: Lenexa, KS Microvi Biotech LLC - Location: Overland Park, MO NanoBio Corporation - Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan Rigen, Inc. - Location: Oklahoma City, OK Selexys Pharmaceuticals Corp. - Location: Oklahoma City, OK Somark Innovations - Location: St. Louis, MO Symphony Medical, Inc. - Location: Eden Prairie, MN ZyStor Therapeutics, Inc. - Location: Milwaukee, Wisc. Technology Track Agilis Systems, Inc. - Location: St. Louis, Mo. Akoya, Inc. - Location: Peoria, IL Blue River Operation, Inc. - Location: Lenexa, KS Clearent, LLC - Location: St. Louis, MO Dynamic Broadband, Inc. - Location: Cedar Rapids, IA Embrace Pet Insurance - Location: Chagrin Falls, OH Global Velocity, Inc. - Location: St. Louis, MO Gridlogix - Location: Saint Louis, MO iMobile Technologies (IMAT) - Location: Saint Louis, MO Lori Coulter TrueMeasure - Location: Saint Louis, MO Mindtrust LLC - Location: Kansas City, MO Procelerate Technologies - Location: Saint Louis, MO RemitPro LLC - Location: Omaha, NE Smartvue Corporation - Location: Nashville, TN Additional information on each of the presenters listed above is available on the InvestMidwest website at: www.investmidwestforum.com, or by calling The Hauser Group at (314) 436-9090. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion