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Letter from the CEO
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By the Numbers: The Summer Edition
By Steve Rhodes, CEO and Chairman of The Trendlines Group
What are you doing on your summer vacation? Our Trendlines Group companies have been raising money. As seed-stage investors, we raise money for our early-stage companies all year round, of course. During our recent manager's meeting recapping the first half of 2012, however, we revealed some exciting statistics.
For starters, 27 (yes, that right, 27) of our portfolio companies raised money so far this year. Here's how it breaks down.
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Raises by Portfolio Companies H1 2012
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We are especially pleased that seven companies raised money as a result of their participation in our U.S. Road Show at the end of March.
This activity resulted in a first half total of $20.2 million.
So, despite the economy -- and the summer heat -- there was no summer vacation from raises. Raising capital is always a struggle, even in the best of economies. The fact that so many of our companies have succeeded in receiving external funding is a great compliment to them and their management teams.
Congratulations to our companies. Looking forward to a prosperous second half.
Steve Rhodes
CEO and Chairman
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News from Our Portfolio Companies
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Stimatix GI Wins 2012 Best Start-Up of the Year
Stimatix GI was awarded "Best Start-Up Company" of 2012 by Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist. Stimatix develops low-profile colostomy solutions.
Stimatix and Trendlines personnel look on as Meir Or, R&D team leader, and David Hanuka, CEO, accept the Best Start-Up Award from (left to right) the Minister of Industry, Trade & Labor Shalom Simhon, who is joined by Ministry Director General Sharon Kedmi, and the Chief Scientist Dr. Avi Hasson.
- ETView received FDA clearance of a 510(k) for VivaSight™-DL, its double-lumen endotracheal tube with integrated high-resolution camera. The VivaSight products provide continuous airway visualization and monitoring during lung isolation procedures. The FDA announcement sparked a stock jump for the public company (TASE: ETVW). In other news: Company COO Yonat Granot participated in the Business Leadership Program at the Merage Institute in California.
- URINFLO from FlowSense was the subject of "Go with the Flow To Monitor Kidney Injuries" on Israel 21c. The new device "takes the guesswork out of urine monitoring and provides clearer and safer guidelines during surgery and after-care." FlowSense is a public company that started in the Misgav Venture Accelerator.
Misgav Companies Reach Milestones
 A number of Misgav companies reached significant milestones in the first half of 2012:
- LapSpace Medical conducted its first animal trial for the usability of its inflatable balloon retractor.
- Nephera held first in man trials in Latvia.
- Paul Zalesky joined MitrAssist as VP business development. Previously, Paul served as VP R&D at both Baxter and Volcano Corporation and co-founded TherOx. He holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan.
- MediValve and ProArc received approval from the Office of the Chief Scientist for another year in the incubator.
See the most recent Misgav newsletter for more recent news.
 Mofet Companies Appear
in the Media
- Inspiresme named VivoText one of five disruptive Israeli start-ups due to the fact that VivoText "bridged this gap" between clarity and lack of emotion, "opening up massive possibility for resource-saving changes in markets such as audio books, personalised greetings, online training modules and more."
- Graduate company Levgum was the subject of "Old tires, new rubber" on the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. Levgum is a leader in devulcanization; that is, "undoing the chemical change in the rubber" that keeps it elastic.
See the most recent Mofet newsletter for more recent news.
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Latest News from The Trendlines Group
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Our Maryland Connection
Through the Maryland/Israel Development Center (MIDC), Trendlines has represented the state of Maryland in Israel for more than 16 years. Maryland, which is home to the FDA, Lockheed Martin, and Johns Hopkins, ranks as a leader in high tech in the United States. The MIDC is committed to helping Israeli companies partner with and gain a foothold in Maryland.
Barry Bogage, MIDC's executive director, recently wrote about the activity of the Maryland/Israel Trendlines Fund, a joint fund between the MIDC and Trendlines. In the article, which appeared in the Washington Jewish Week, Barry writes, "the fund offers investors the opportunity to realize substantial long-term capital appreciation through investment in early-stage Israeli biomedical, agri-tech, and clean-tech companies, all areas where Israel excels."
The Fund has invested in 11 Trendlines portfolio companies (most recent investments: MediValve and ProArc). The Fund is raising money through the end of August.
On the Road Again We are planning a U.S. road show for four of our medical device companies geared toward presenting those companies to angel groups. We are looking at stops in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore during the week of October 22. If you are a member of an angel group interested in hosting Trendlines companies, contact Andi Chai. If you'd like to get a sense of our U.S. events, watch our
Trendlines Goes International Raising money (and awareness) takes us all around the globe. - Todd Dollinger, CEO and Chairman of The Trendlines Group, traveled to Los Angeles to attend the Israel Conference on May 31-June 1. The conference showcases "the vitality and growth of Israel-facing business through a variety of panels on hot industry topics and trends with world-class speakers ... ."
- Todd and other Trendlines team members traveled to Germany, Switzerland, China, Japan, and points around the United States (New York, California, and Texas).
- We've hosted visitors from all over the world at our corporate headquarters in the Misgav region: Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Nigeria, India, China, Korea, Japan, and the United States.
Our Original Perspective  Trendlines management and staff members have written original articles focused on business development. They bring their unique perspective to entrepreneurship, management, funding and investors, and marketing.
You can see and read these articles in the new Articles section of our website.
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The Trendlines Group
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Staff News
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Welcome to Sarai Kemp, Business Development Manager, Mofet
Sarai joined the Mofet team in July. She brings experience from the dairy, agricultural, and high-tech industries. Sarai has also coordinated work with companies in the Far East.
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