Welcome to the thirteenth edition of the Slater Technology Fund E-News. Over the year since our last edition, we have witnessed a period of unprecedented challenges in the economy and capital markets. Here in Rhode Island, we have confronted conditions of fiscal austerity that are particularly severe. Notwithstanding, the Slater Fund has emerged favorably positioned. Together with the entrepreneurs and investors whom we serve, we have considerable progress to report, as highlighted below. For more information, call 831-6633 or visit www.slaterfund.com.
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| Slater Portfolio Companies Attract Major Investment |
Slater-backed companies Andera, Medrobotics Corporation (formerly Cardiorobotics), and NABsys closed significant funding rounds over the past year. Andera, the fast-growing Providence venture that specializes in online customer acquisition solutions for financial institutions, raised $9 million in late 2010, led by Edison Ventures. Medrobotics, which is developing a platform for robotic surgery that will enable surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures, raised $10.1 million in two rounds of investment reported in early 2011. NABsys, developers of solid-state electronic systems for single-molecule DNA sequencing and analysis, announced a $10-million round in September 2011. NABsys also recently moved to the Jewelry District in Providence and made several key hires.
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| Slater Invests in VCharge |
Slater has committed $250,000 in funding to Cranston-based energy management start-up VCharge, which provides energy storage and management services for the electric grid. VCharge will use the capital to pursue additional market opportunities for its energy demand response technology in heat and transportation.
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| Slater Makes Follow-on Investment in Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals |
Having launched drug discovery venture Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals Inc. in June 2010, Slater committed to a follow-on financing in May 2011, providing an additional $250,000 to support the seed-stage company in recruiting key employees, directors and advisors and expanding its corporate development activities.
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| Providence Startup Lucidux Wins RI Business Plan Competition, Receives Grants from STAC and NIH | |
Providence-based Lucidux, a 3-D imaging start-up founded by Slater entrepreneur-in-residence Jason Harry, recently won the RI Biz Plan Competition in the Entrepreneur Track. The company will use the award to accelerate the commercialization of its imaging technology used to detect and treat different kinds of cancers. Lucidux has also been awarded grants from STAC and the National Institutes of Health for the development of improved camera visualization models for surgeons conducting minimally invasive procedures.
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| MoFuse Lands Major Publisher Customer | |
MoFuse has named LocalEdge, the Hearst Corporation's internal multimedia internet marketing provider, as the newest customer of its mobile web development platform. LocalEdge will provide MoFuse's mobile content management platform to its customer base, which includes the thousands of local businesses and advertisers of Hearst's 15 daily and 38 weekly newspapers, as well as its directory services businesses.
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| Location, Inc. Launches New NeighborhoodScout Site to Improve Real Estate Search |
Location, Inc. has introduced the most advanced version of its neighborhood search engine technology with the newly revamped NeighborhoodScout.com, a research and reporting tool for homebuyers all over the U.S. The site now allows users to find realtors specifically for their desired neighborhoods, as well as access research tools for neighborhood matching, crime rates, schools, and more.
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| Biomedical Structures, Inc. Acquires Concordia Medical, Combining Two RI-Based Developers of Engineered Fibers |
Launched in 2003 as a subsidiary of Coventry-based Concordia Manufacturing, Concordia Medical was acquired in 2011 by Biomedical Structures Inc., backed by venture capital firm Ampersand Ventures. The two R.I.-based companies have consolidated operations in Concordia's facilities in Warwick with plans for significant expansion. |
| Slater Wraps Up 2010-2011 Entrepreneurial Fellows Program with Student Roundtable | |
Slater recently closed on the third year of its Entrepreneurial Fellows Program with a lively panel discussion featuring the eight students from Brown University and the University of Rhode Island in this past year's fellowship. Featuring a discussion of several Slater portfolio companies and student research findings, the panel conducted a personalized appraisal of the entrepreneurial opportunities in the state. Slater has received funding for the program as part of Rhode Island's award from the National Science Foundation's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR), which works in collaboration with the R.I. Science and Technology Advisory Council and the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. With funding committed for five years, the program will begin its next session in the fall of 2011.
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| Four Slater-Backed Ventures to Present at Life Sciences Technology Showcase |
ProThera Biologics, Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals, CytoSolv and Myomics, four life sciences ventures backed by Slater, will present their innovations at the Life Sciences Technology Showcase event hosted by Brown University and the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RI-CIE) on Wednesday, October 12. They will be featured alongside other early-stage R.I. ventures in healthcare, drug development, and medical devices.
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Slater Managing Director Points to Opportunity in the Knowledge District in The Providence Journal and Providence Business News
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Managing Director Richard G. Horan underscored the need for a clear vision for the Knowledge District in recent issues of The Providence Journal and Providence Business News, reflecting on the development of life science hubs in Boston and Cambridge, as well as a most recent example of the academic tech transfer model for building biotech in Rhode Island.
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Slater Receives Renewed Funding from State, Wins Additional $9 Million in Federal Grant
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Slater received renewed funding in the state's annual budget enacted for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2011, and will receive an additional $9 million for a $13.1-million grant awarded Rhode Island under the U.S. Treasury Department's State Small Business Credit Initiative. The federal economic development grant is designed to help create jobs by nurturing small businesses and providing capital for venture development.
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