Slater Technology Fund
  • Slater Spotlight: VoltServer
  • Mnemosyne Changes Name to Luc, Announces Partnership with Novartis
  • ProThera Biologics Partners with ProMetic Life Sciences to Bring Therapy to Clinic  
  • CytoSolv Acquired by Semma Therapeutics 
  • Illuminoss Appoints Manny Avila CEO, Continues Clinical Trials in the U.S and Europe, and Completes First Tranche of Next Round Financing
  • Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals Appoints James Connolly as CEO and Completes $1.8- Million Private Financing
  • Medrobotics Raises $25 Million to Launch Its Flex Robotic System in U.S. Hospitals
  • Slater Invests $250,000 in SquadLocker as Part of $1.75- Million Round   
  • Slater Invests $100,000 in Renewable Energy Company eNow 
  • Slater Appoints New Director of Finance and Accounting
  • Wireless Expert Headlines Slater Event
SLATER IN THE NEWS
Kate Bramson conducted a Q&A with Slater Managing Director Richard G. Horan in the Providence Journal.  Read More Here

Richard Horan also shared his views on the future of Rhode Island's innovation economy in
Providence Business News.  Read More Here

Slater Managing Director Thorne Sparkman's appointment to the panel of judges for the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition featured in Providence Business News.  Read More Here

 
Winter Edition |  February 2016
Slater Spotlight: VoltServer
Serial entrepreneur Steve Eaves is at it again.  The founder of two successful energy companies (Eaves Devices and ModEnergy), Eaves has seen his lithium-ion battery technology deployed in Navy submersibles, B2 bombers, and the international space station, among thousands of other applications. Now his latest company, VoltServer, is reinventing electricity.  Electricity you can actually touch.

VoltServer's patented power solution, Digital Electricity™, delivers touch-safe electricity wherever it is needed. It transforms electrical power into digital packets that contain both energy and data - but not enough energy to harm a person or damage a power line. This novel approach to digitizing electrical power allows for much higher levels of power to be transferred with absolute safety, and without the capital expense which typically burdens high power infrastructure.

VoltServer's technology has multiple applications, but the company is currently focused primarily on the telecom market, particularly mobile network operators, who now can deploy and power remote equipment quickly and efficiently as compared to legacy solutions. VoltServer began shipping its solution in early 2015, and is currently powering 4G/LTE mobile services in many large sports stadiums, office towers, hotels, condominiums and medical buildings throughout the U.S. 

VoltServer recently raised $5 million in a Series A2 round of funding, led by Marker Hill Capital and joined by NRCM and Clean Energy Venture Group, bringing the total the company has raised to $10.5 million to date. VoltServer has also received grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to implement Digital Electricity™ to power buildings, especially lighting, while also enabling network connection to luminaires. VoltServer believes it can reduce the installed cost of solid state lighting systems by 20-30%, thereby boosting the deployment of LED or OLED lighting while also improving energy-conversion efficiency.

The company is also participating in the Department of Energy'sSunShot Initiative as a key technology partner of Fraunhofer CSE's solar plug-and-play photovoltaic system, which reduces the time and costs of rooftop solar installation from days to hours. The system, currently in beta testing, uses VoltServer's technology to reduce the "soft costs" that have become an increasingly large driver of the price tag of implementing solar. 

 
Mnemosyne Changes Name to Luc, Announces Partnership with Novartis
Slater-backed Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery venture focused on neuropsychiatric conditions, recently announced several major developments, including a name change to Luc Therapeutics, a move to Cambridge, Mass., and an agreement with Novartis, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. The partnership with Novartis aims to advance the company's lead program, the development of a fast-acting anti-depressant. 
ProThera Biologics Partners with ProMetic Life Sciences to Bring Therapy to Clinic  
Backed with a recent infusion of  $250,000 from Slater and other existing  investors, ProThera Biologics entered a strategic partnership with ProMetic Life Sciences (TSX: PLI), a biopharmaceutical company with globally recognized expertise in bioseparation using its own affinity separation technology for the development of best-in-class plasma-derived therapeutics. The partnership will advance the clinical development of Inter-Alpha Inhibitor Proteins (IAIP) to diagnose and treat inflammatory diseases. 
CytoSolv Acquired by Semma Therapeutics 
CytoSolv, a Providence-based life sciences company originally backed by Slater in 2010, was acquired by Semma Therapeutics, a venture-backed spinout from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Semma is developing stem cell-based therapies for treating Type I diabetes and acquired CytoSolv for its expertise in cell encapsulation technology. The CytoSolv team will remain in Providence and is currently expanding its operations here. 
Illuminoss Appoints Manny Avila CEO, Continues Clinical Trials in the U.S and Europe, and Completes First Tranche of Next Round Financing
Illuminoss Medical appointed Manny Avila as its new president and CEO. Avila joined Illuminoss from OmniGuide Surgical, where he was global vice president of sales and marketing. Previously, he served as vice president of commercial operations and commercial strategy for Covidien, and before that vice president of Aspect Medical Systems. The company recently completed the first tranche of a proposed $25-million financing round, in which Slater is participating as the company's sole R.I.-based investor. 

 
Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals Appoints James Connolly as CEO and Completes $1.8-Million Private Financing
Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals announced that James E. Connolly has joined the company as chief executive officer and a member of the company's board of directors. Connolly is an accomplished business executive with more than 25 years of leadership roles in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and non-profit sectors. The company also announced it has competed a $1.8-million private financing, intended to serve as a bridge to a proposed Series D preferred stock financing. 
Medrobotics Raises $25 Million to Launch Its Flex Robotic System in U.S. Hospitals
Medrobotics Corp., a developer of a robot-assisted surgical platform for minimally-invasive surgery, recently closed a $25-million round of funding, bringing aggregate funds raised to $143 million through present date. Slater was an early investor in Medrobotics, investing in the company's Series A financing, which brought the company to Rhode Island in 2007. 
Slater Invests $250,000 in SquadLocker as Part of $1.75-Million Round   
Warwick-based SquadLocker raised $1.75 million in venture capital financing, including $250,000 from Slater, to pioneer a new eCommerce platform targeting teams online. The company develops software tools that allow teams' coaches and managers to design, visualize, and then market customized athletic apparel. 
Slater Invests $100,000 in Renewable Energy Company eNow 
Slater invested $100,000 as part of a $500,000 round of seed funding in Warwick-based eNow, a developer of renewable energy solutions for commercial transportation. eNow's innovative "smart solar systems" have been found to significantly improve commercial vehicles' fuel economy by utilizing solar power to charge auxiliary batteries. Industry giants Walmart, AutoZone, and USXpress have already purchased or committed to purchasing the company's solar systems to optimize the efficiency of their trucking fleets.  
Slater Appoints New Director of Finance and Accounting
Slater recently welcomed Michelle Woods to its staff as director of finance and accounting. Woods will oversee and manage the organization's regulatory compliance issues. Before joining Slater, Woods served as vice president at Providence Equity Partners, overseeing a team of finance professionals. 
Wireless Expert Headlines Slater Event
Entrepreneurs, investors and other tech industry folks headed to Dueling Pianos in Providence's Jewelry District on December 9th to hear wireless communications guru Bob Heile speak about the future of wireless and what's next for the Internet of Things. The Slater-hosted event drew a sizable crowd seeking to hear from Heile, a founding father of major technology movements including Wifi, the Zigbee Coalition, and the Internet of Things (IoT), to name just a few.        

The Slater Technology Fund is an independently chartered, economic development fund that operates in accord with best practices of venture capital investing, backing new ventures committed to basing and building businesses in Rhode Island. For more information, visit www.slaterfund.com.