Did you know?
Wisconsin leads the nation in how we operate our public employee pension system. The state's $77 billion pension plan is the only one in the country that is fully funded. The national average is 75 percent.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board-managed program is the ninth-largest in the country and the 30th-largest pension fund in the world. More than 572,000 people participate in more than 1,000 local units of government.
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Jargon
MVP: Minimum Viable Product, a term coined by Eric Ries, the pioneer behind Lean Startup, is the idea that a product doesn't have to be perfect, in fact, it may be better that your customer gives you feedback because it tells you your product isn't ready for production but at least they're using it.
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Become a WAN Member
For the first time ever, your $750 WAN
membership also includes a membership in the Wisconsin Innovation Network (WIN). This "dual" membership is a $500 value included at no additional cost to you.
Your WIN membership entitles you to one free pass to both major conferences (Early Stage Symposium and Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Conference), as well as regular WIN events in Madison, Milwaukee, Appleton, Central Wisconsin, Western Wisconsin and the Lake Superior regions.
For more information on WAN memberships contact Zach Brandon, or click here to join. |
WAN Members
Investor-members Angels on the Water
Baird Venture Partners
Capital Midwest
Central Illinois Angels*
Central WI Business Angels
Continuum Investment Partners
DaneVest Tech Fund*
Daycholah Capital
Golden Angels Network*
Illinois Business & Investors Forum* Inventure Capital
Kegonsa Partners Lakeshore Angels
Lake Superior Angel Network*
Marshfield Investment Partners
Mason Wells
MDC Venture Debt Fund
NEW Capital Fund
Northwoods Angels
Peak Ridge Capital
Origin Investment Group*
Pennies from Heaven
Phenomenelle Angels Fund
Promega Corporation
Silicon Pastures*
St. Croix Valley Angel Network
Stateline Angels*
Successful Entrepreneur Investors*
Triathlon Medical Ventures
Venture Investors
Wisconsin Investment Partners*
Women Angels, LLC Informal networks: 1
*Denotes Midwest co-Investment Network members along with
Cornerstone Angels
Endeavor Capital Management
Hyde Park Angels
LaSalle Investments
Ohio Tech Angels
St. Louis Arch Angels
Twin City Angels
Minnesota Angel Network
Advisory Committee
Tim Keane (Chair)
Golden Angels Network
Richard Leazer
Wisconsin Investment Partners
Dick Leinenkugel
Northwoods Angels
Todd Leonard
Minnesota Angel Network
Thomas Shannon
Shamrock Partners
Tom Still
Wisconsin Technology Council
David Ward
NorthStar Economics
WAN Staff
Zach Brandon
Director
Jodi Hoeser
Conference Director
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WisBusiness.com: The Show
In this edition, ScooterCabs co-owner Justin Sisley talks about his Madison-based business that helps drinkers get their cars home safely. Also, Tom Still's commentary takes on immigration and Wisconsin startups and the WisBusiness.com Stock Report features a merger that has fallen apart and a survey of bank execs that has come together -- with good news.
Previous shows:
Bruce Maas, UW Madison CIO
Holly Hawkins of Tri-North Builders
Molly Lahr, Wisconsin Innovation Network Director
Chris Prestigiacomo of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board
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Newsletter Sponsors
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 New QNBV report released
In 2005, a bipartisan effort led to the signing of Wisconsin Act 255. This legislation created a national model for developing, promoting and leveraging early stage investment capital. With 25 percent credits given in the first year of the investment, the Early Stage Tax Credit program has helped to produce a more than 15-fold increase in early stage investments by individual angels and organized angel groups in Wisconsin companies.
According to a recently released report by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the investor tax credit program has leveraged about $186 million in qualified investments in 138 companies since 2005. These companies supported 1,112 jobs with an average salary of $76,500 in 2011. Download the full report here.
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WAN's Brandon to lead national angel effort
Wisconsin Angel Network Director Zach Brandon has been selected by the national Angel Capital Association to be the vice chair of the organization's public policy committee.
In this newly created volunteer role, Brandon will orchestrate a national effort to promote public policy that enhances early stage investing in the United States, including the establishment of a federal version of Wisconsin's investor tax credits. See details here.
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TermSync raises $2.2 million
Madison-based TermSync, Inc., an accounts receivable automation platform that ensures businesses get paid faster, announced it has closed a $2.2 million round, bringing the company's total fundraising to $3 million. TermSync is privately held and headquartered Madison, Wis. Read press release here.
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Well, we warned you... Gopher credits are gone
Jeff Nelson, director of the Minnesota Angel Tax Credit program, announced that this year's credits ran out at noon on July 25. New credits will not be issued to investors until Jan 1, 2013.
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VI fund five has first close, looking for deals
Madison-based venture capital firm Venture Investors has received commitments of $70 million for its fifth venture capital fund, according to an investor in the fund. Venture Investors declined to comment about the new fund. SEC filings show the firm plans to raise a total of $150 million. If Venture Investors succeeds in raising $150 million, it would be the biggest venture capital fund ever raised by a Wisconsin-based company. Venture Investors' fourth fund raised $115 million from investors. Among the firm's past investments were TomoTherapy Inc., and NimbleGen Systems.
Look for a column in this Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in which Tech Council president Tom Still makes the case that Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest are the land of opportunity for smaller venture capital firms and emerging markets.
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The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming!
Chinese investment fund PiYi is partnering with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and looking to invest $100 million in state companies across a broad range of industries. The Wisconsin Technology Council and Wisconsin Angel Network have also partnered with WEDC to assist with company recruitment and presentation training.
WEDC has screened the applications and will announce in the coming weeks the names of the nearly two dozen companies selected make presentations to PiYi Investment Management Co. Ltd. in September. PiYi (pronounced Pee-Yee) will make investments in the $2 million to $15 million range.
PiYi, based in Beijing, manages private equity and venture capital funds for institutions and wealthy Chinese individuals. The group is interested in funding companies in industries including agriculture, food production and transportation, energy production, storage, controls, distribution, clean-technology and environmental remediation, infrastructure, information technology, biotechnology, manufacturing and medical devices.
The Wisconsin company presentations will occur Sept 26 and 27 during US-China Investor Week, a 10-day event with stops in six U.S. cities that is being organized by PiYi and the Council of American States in China. The event will begin in Dallas, where former President George H. W. Bush will welcome the group. Between 25 and 30 people from the 150-person Chinese group - which will include limited partners, analysts, policy experts and journalists - will then travel to Wisconsin.
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The Anti Portfolio
Portfolio companies not doing as well as you expected? Do you need a good laugh at someone else's expense? Click here.
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Deals, acquisitions and exits
Vidmaker, a TechStars Cloud company based in Madison, has raised an angel round of funding worth $652,260, according to an SEC filing. The company previously collected $118,000 from TechStars Cloud, which, of TechStars' five franchises, is the only one focused on a theme rather than a city. Vidmaker is still in beta-mode, but its product promises to provide video that allows multiple people to edit in the cloud. It brings the online collaboration tools we are familiar with for documents, thanks to Google Docs to video, an area collaborative software makers have previously avoided. Perhaps more ambitiously, it brings group video editing tools to multiple devices. StudyBlue recently announced the addition of a peninsular office in San Francisco. As a leading mobile consumer Internet company, StudyBlue says it is "jazzed" about what a West Coast office can add to its position as a global leader for student learning online. This second shop gives the company the ability to build its product side-by-side with the world's top mobile Internet companies, as well as to continue recruiting top talent as its team grows. The new office will open its doors in early fall. Read announcement here. Spill founder Heidi Allstop was recently interviewed in Inc. Allstop started Spill while studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Spill went to become a TechStars Boston company and won the Global Social Venture Competition. Unfortunately, the magazine article also announced that Spill was moving to San Francisco. The Medical College of Wisconsin has completed a licensing agreement with a startup company that is developing a device for patients with severe acid reflux. Somna Therapeutics LLC expects to have the device, called the Reza-Band, in clinical trials by fall. Stem cell pioneer James Thomson and two other University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have received a $2.2 million, two-year federal grant that is part of an initiative to improve the process for predicting whether potential new drugs are safe in humans. Read story here. WiSys Technology Foundation Inc. has helped form 10 startups at UW System campuses since beginning to focus on them in 2007. WiSys is expected to create five or six more startups at UW System campuses during the next five years. WiSys is the technology transfer arm of the system and was formed in 2000 by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which provides similar services to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Tech Council's Tom Still serves on the WiSys Advisory Board. Yahoo has tapped another Wisconsin native to lead the Internet company. Marissa Mayer, who graduated from Wausau West High, is the second Wisconsin woman to try to revive Yahoo. Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo from 2009 to September 2011, grew up in a farm near Alma in western Wisconsin. Read Journal Sentinel story here. |
WEDC seeds Vet accelerator with $450,000
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. announced it will give an additional $300,000 grant to VictorySpark Inc., a group that will make investments in young, veteran-owned businesses. In May, WEDC seeded the fund with a $150,000 grant. VictorySpark is the first "seed accelerator" to use mentors and focus on veterans' startups. VictorySpark was formed in association with Veteran Entrepreneurial Transfer Inc. VETransfer started in 2011 when it received a two-year, $3.2 million contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The group helps U.S. military veterans start or expand their businesses. Read more here. |
Startup weekend coming to Milwaukee
The program, designed to help entrepreneurs launch companies during a 54-hour marathon event, will be held Nov. 9-11 at the Marquette University's Discovery Learning Complex. Startup Weekend, which is affiliated with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, brings together people with different skill sets for a weekend-long crash course in how to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch companies.
Read more here.
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Can you hit a fastball?
Two FastPitch competitions are coming to Wisconsin. The competition will culminate with a World Series event to be held this fall. With FastPitch, entrepreneurs have three minutes to pitch their business or business concepts to a group of judges from the business and investment community. Participants are eligible to win startup funds and other prizes. The best pitch will receive up to $5,000 in startup funds. The best student pitch will receive up to $2,500.
Rock and Walworth counties (Wisconsin): August 8
Kenosha and Racine counties (Wisconsin): August 29
Get more details here or by calling (262) 898-7404
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Upcoming Events
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