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 WisBusiness: The Show

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The Wisconsin Portfolio, produced by the Wisconsin Technology Council and the Wisconsin Angel Network, is designed to inform investors about exciting developments in our state’s risk capital economy.

The 2013 edition of the Wisconsin Portfolio charts major 2012 angel and venture capital deals in Wisconsin and offers an overview of the state’s early stage landscape, with profiles on emerging companies, a resource guide for investors and more.

Visit the Tech Council website to download the 2013 edition.

A company that has developed a portable device for treating diabetic foot ulcers won the grand prize in the 2013 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, organizers announced.

NitricGen Inc., a Madison-based firm, designed and patented a shoe box-sized device that produces nitric oxide from room air to treat chronic foot ulcers, a serious complication of diabetes. The device electrically creates a flow of nitric oxide gas to be applied by the patient. The full release along with additional coverage is available here.

What type of startup business are you? What do investors need to hear from entrepreneurs in an executive summary or an “elevator pitch?” Who should consider joining an angel group – and why?

Those questions and more will be examined at the Monday, June 17 meeting in Sturtevant as part of WIN’s new “Entrepreneurs’ Edge” project. Investors and other business startup experts will share best practices, with some entrepreneurs getting the chance to practice their pitches in front of those mentors.

For more information and to register, click here.

Mark Bugher, who helped to mold UW-Madison's University Research Park into an economic and technology transfer force admired nationally, plans to retire in October. Find the full release, as well as coverage by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal here.

Bipartisan vote on early stage capital bill may set tone for Legislature
The 91-2 Assembly vote in support of a bill to create a state-leveraged venture capital program may represent the beginning of a less rancorous era (or, at least, a brief respite). Democrats and Republicans will continue to disagree on many issues – school vouchers and tax cuts being current examples – but it may now be OK to occasionally agree without penalty.

Learning from others can help all types of 'treps down the path
The challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs, who are increasingly a part of Wisconsin’s business landscape, are the focus of next week’s Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Middleton. They are also at the heart of a continuing series, “The Entrepreneurs’ Edge,” which began in Green Bay, Milwaukee and DeForest and which continues June 17 in Racine.

For proof of how venture capital funds can work, gaze across Lake Michigan
In many ways, Michigan looks a lot like Wisconsin. It shares hundreds of miles of the same Great Lakes shoreline, and usually votes “blue” in presidential elections and “red” when it comes to choosing governors and members of its state Legislature. It also boasts major research universities that rank among the nation’s best. Unlike Wisconsin, however, Michigan began investing in its emerging economy years ago – even as the state’s automobile manufacturing base was teetering on the edge of collapse.

Connecting the dots between health and well-being
Held under the title of “Change Your Mind, Change the World,” the event brought together experts in neuroscience, health care, psychology, economics and the environment to talk about global health and emotional well-being. Speakers made a compelling case that physical health is often linked to emotional or mental health, yet health-care systems in most countries don’t often see the connection.

Society has a love-hate relationship with technology
Google Glass, a wearable computer that looks like a pair of eyeglasses, has sparked the latest chapter in a debate that is older than you might imagine: How does technology test the boundaries between privacy and the First Amendment?

What we know is this: Over the next decade, innovation and entrepreneurism are the keys to producing a more robust economy in Wisconsin. And that's why, despite the scary news coming out of the statistic mills, there are still reasons to be optimistic if you're a dyed-in-the-wool Badger.

State Journal: Senate's turn to support startups

The state Assembly just approved a smart plan to help young companies in Wisconsin expand and hire. Now the Senate should act.

BizTimes: Cudahy donates $2 million for UWM Innovation Campus
Just as construction kicked off on the first building at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Innovation Campus this week, Chancellor Michael Lovell announced that the project will receive a $2 million gift from philanthropist Michael Cudahy.

JSOnline: Exact Sciences applies to FDA to sell cancer test to public
Four years after Kevin T. Conroy took the top job at a struggling biotech company, Exact Sciences Corp. said Monday it has submitted an application to federal regulators for approval to market a DNA-based, non-invasive colon cancer test.

JSOnline: Week's developments could give venture capital a boost
The state's still-emerging high-tech economy saw developments on several fronts last week, creating optimism that years of talk might finally yield significant action.

State Journal: Madison Fish-finding app lures Wal-Mart's interest Before Brian Jensen’s mobile app, Fishidy, showed up in the sporting goods sections of hundreds of Wal-Mart stores, the Sun Prairie native got all but skunked on a fishing trip to northern Minnesota.

JSOnline: Odyne Systems awarded plug-in hybrid system contract Odyne Systems of Waukesha has received a contract to supply its plug-in hybrid system technology to about 120 large plug-in hybrid trucks to utilities under a $45 million contract with the research arm of the utility industry.

UW-Whitewater: Student entrepreneur launches quadcopter
Mitchell Fiene, a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater sophomore, has taken his business idea to the skies after finding a solution to an arduous farming practice - crop scouting.

State Journal: Madison stem cell company CDI files for IPO
Cellular Dynamics International, created by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson in 2004, plans to sell its stock on the public market, the first Madison
company to go public in six years. 

Wisconsin entrepreneurs see bright future ahead
The numbers remain gloomy, but many believe that after more than a decade of serious effort, Wisconsin finally may be re-invigorating its entrepreneurial climate.

SOLOMO Technology raises $1.7M
A Madison-based provider of mobile technology solutions closed a $1.7 million funding round to help accelerate product development and increase sales and marketing, the company announced today.

JSOnline: Snowshoe Food selected for TechStar program
A Madison company with a unique, inexpensive technology for authenticating mobile transactions, has been accepted into the highly selective TechStars Boulder start-up accelerator program. Claus Moberg, chief executive officer of Snowshoe Food Inc., and the company's four other employees will spend the summer in Boulder, Co. working with mentors and further developing their company.

JSOnline: Revolution Labs receives $100K in state grants to boost inner city businesses
Two state agencies will provide a total of $100,000 to Revolution Labs, a Milwaukee program aimed at providing best practices training and funding for five inner-city start-ups, Gov. Scott Walker said Monday.