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Dear readers –
Investors are increasingly finding reasons to invest in Wisconsin companies. More than $20 million in angel and venture capital deals are detailed in this edition of the WIN eNewsletter alone, representing about a month’s worth of activity. That increase in deals represents one good reason why companies should apply to present at this year’s Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium (please see below) and why active and prospective investors should attend the Sept. 18 Investors’ Edge event in Appleton (also below). Please read on to learn more about those events and more!

Sincerely,
Tom Still

Apply to pitch your company to the most active investors in the Midwest at the annual Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, being held Nov. 12-13 at Madison’s Monona Terrace. Many companies have cited their presentations at the conference as a key factor for getting funding and growing their business. Company applications are due no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24.

This year’s conference, with a theme of “30X10,” is celebrating a rich history that goes back to 1985. Under several names since the first annual venture conference was held 30 years ago in Madison, the event has been known for the past 10 years as the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium. More than 480 companies have presented during the conferences in one format or another, including some of Wisconsin's largest tech companies.

The application process is open to early stage companies representing an array of industries, including biotechnology, medical devices, health care, advanced manufacturing, information technology and others. For more information on how to apply, click here. Learn more about the Early Stage Symposium at www.wisearlystage.com.

Investors' Edge workshop returns to Wisconsin Sept. 18

Come learn with and from experienced early-stage investors and entrepreneurs about the latest trends in angel and startup investing! Returning to Wisconsin by popular demand, the Investors' Edge workshop "Trends in Raising Early Stage Capital" can help new or experienced investors make sure their next deal is on par with the latest market trends.The half day event will be held Thursday, Sept. 18, at the Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton.

Produced by the Wisconsin Angel Network, with content presented by the national Angel Resource Institute, the workshop covers best practices in the following areas: analyzing the capital raising environment, meeting investor expectations, current valuation methodologies and deal structuring.

Successfully raising investment capital and starting women-led businesses will be the topic of a panel discussion titled "Glass ceiling or hard floor: How women entrepreneurs are raising funds" at the Tuesday, Sept. 23, meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network meeting in Madison.

The luncheon will be held at the Sheraton Hotel on Madison’s John Nolen Drive. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., lunch at noon and the presentation at 12:30 p.m.

Panelists include Laura King, founder and chief executive officer of Elucent Medical and grand prize winner of the 2014 Governor’s Business Plan Contest for their innovative cancer detection technology; Nicole Walker, who has extensive investment experience, most recently serving as director at Baird Venture Capital; and Heather Wentler, cofounder and executive director of The Doyenne Group, which mentors women entrepreneurs and business owners in Madison. Tom Still of the Tech Council will moderate. Register and learn more here.

The 2014 Midwest Innovation Summit will be held Oct. 27-28 in Minneapolis, Minn.

This year's event is expected to have more than 400 attendees focused on innovation in the Impact Economy, including corporate managers, financial investors, early stage businesses, trade organizations, academia, government officials and university students.

This annual conference, organized by Midwest Cleantech Open and partners, explores how the Midwest is capitalizing on these trends and providing market leadership, and offers insights into new industry developments and upcoming opportunities. Learn more and register here.

SCORE is celebrating its 50th anniversary of helping small businesses grow throughout the country. To celebrate this milestone, SCORE Southeast Wisconsin is hosting a luncheon event on Oct. 9th at the Wisconsin Club in downtown Milwaukee.

Featured speakers will include: Ken Yancey, CEO, SCORE National; Craig Culver, CEO, Culver's; and Erik Buell, CEO, Erik Buell Racing. 

Across Wisconsin, SCORE has been instrumental in helping new business entrepreneurs and existing business owners through its free coaching and mentoring services, along with a comprehensive curriculum of cost-effective business training classes.  

To learn more about this event, please contact Lynn Morrison at 414-588-3308 or lynn.morrison@scorevolunteer.org.

On the latest episode of "WisBusiness: The Show," Liz Schrum speaks with Vicki Elkin, executive director of the Fund for Lake Michigan, about how the business of water benefits the state's economy; Tom Still looks at how Wisconsin's economy could benefit from following Colorado's business practices; and the WisBusiness.com Stock Report showcases hiring and mining.

Click here view the biweekly show, produced by Tweedee Productions for the Wisconsin Technology Council and WisBusiness.com, as well as archives of past shows. The show is sponsored by Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C., Madison Gas & Electric and UW-Milwaukee.

Colorado offers economic growth lessons for Wisconsin
While Wisconsin can't offer mountain vistas, the story of Colorado's economic performance offers some potential lessons for the Badger State — as well as affirmation of trends already underway.

Foreign direct investment plays growing role in Wisconsin’s economy
Exports and foreign direct investments are flip sides of the same coin. They represent Wisconsin’s ability to build, produce and grow what the world needs – and to attract investment from other markets that understand Wisconsin’s strengths.

Biotech back in favor? Not entirely, but funding drought may be ending
For much of the Great Recession and beyond, biotechnology was out of favor among angel and venture capitalists. Software and Internet deals became the shiny object for investors who wanted faster returns with fewer dollars risked.

Wisconsin's 'gazelle' start-up population making gains
Wisconsin is often dinged for being a state with relatively low numbers of start-up companies, which is true given the mix of start-up flavors that are counted in such surveys — from mom-and-pop stores to lifestyle businesses to the "gazelles" that aspire to land angel and venture capital.

Campaign for governor may hinge on new answers to old question
The race for governor in Wisconsin may come down to how voters answer “are you better off?” questions from Republican Scott Walker, who was elected in 2010 and who weathered a recall challenge less than two years later, or Democrat Mary Burke, his challenger in an apparently tight race.

Diverse workforce challenges require a mix of strategies for Wisconsin
Workforce development means different things to different people – which is why the term carries emotional and political weight across Wisconsin, from its small towns to its major cities. It also explains why policymakers must aspire to devise a balanced approach to meeting Wisconsin’s diverse workforce needs.

JSOnline: Imbed Biosciences raises $683,000 in funding round
Imbed Biosciences Inc., a Madison company with a novel biomaterials platform for wound dressings and surgical implants, has raised $683,000 of a planned $1 million funding round, according to filings with federal securities regulators. Imbed Biosciences won second place in the 2012 Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest's Life Sciences category.

Propeller Health raises $14.5M Series B financing led by Safeguard Scientifics
Propeller Health, the FDA-cleared digital health solution for chronic respiratory disease, announced that it raised $14.5 million in Series B financing, led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) with participation from Series A investor The Social+Capital Partnership. Propeller Health will use the funding to accelerate product development, strategic alliances, client services, sales and marketing.

BrightStar Wisconsin announces formation of partnership with Gener8tor
BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc. has announced the formation of a partnership agreement with gener8tor, a Milwaukee- and Madison-based business accelerator that invests in technology-enabled, rapidly scalable, early stage companies. BrightStar has made a commitment to invest $50,000 in each company that comes out of the bi-annual gener8tor accelerator program that meets BrightStar’s mission and main investment criteria, creating high-quality jobs in Wisconsin. The most recent class had five participants that were picked from nearly 400 applicants.

Shine Medical secures $2.4M of investment
SHINE Medical Technologies , Inc. (SHINE), a Wisconsin - based company dedicated to being the world leader in the safe, clean, affordable production of medical isotopes, announced that it closed a $2.4 million financing.

Morgridge launches microfluidics foundry
The Morgridge Institute Medical Engineering team, responding to increased UW-Madison demand for microfluidics resources, has launched a new microfluidics foundry to build customized tools that bring biology down to the smallest possible scale. The Advanced Fabrication Laboratory has a suite of new machines that can mold, emboss and etch polymer micro-channels and create the precise surface properties required in microfluidics devices.

Madison Startups: 11 more recipients of Ideadvance Fund
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and the Center for Technology Commercialization announced recently that 11 additional grantees from UW faculty, staff and student teams have been selected to receive up to $25,000 each through the Ideadvance Seed Fund, bringing the total to 23 teams receiving grants.

JSOnline: Doyenne Group plans to raise $500,000, start angel fund
The Doyenne Group, a Madison nonprofit that provides mentoring and networking for high growth potential, women-owned companies, plans to raise $500,000, part of which will be used to start an angel investment fund.

JSOnline: Biotech companies land funding
Two Madison-area biotech companies — Intuitive Biosciences Inc. and Stealth Therapeutics Inc. — each have raised nearly $500,000 of funding, according to filings with federal securities regulators.

JSOnline: Unique provision in Wisconsin law puts brakes on crowdfunding
Equity crowdfunding is off to a slow start in Wisconsin, with few businesses moving to use the new investment vehicle, and banks seemingly cautious about getting involved. Other states have traveled a similar path, but Wisconsin's road contains a speed bump found nowhere else: The financial institution that holds investors' money during a crowdfunding campaign must be state chartered.

JSOnline: Gener8tor has notable success nurturing start-ups
Gener8tor, a for-profit group formed in 2012, has put 23 start-ups through its training program. Those companies have gone on to create 118 jobs and raise, often with gener8tor's help, more than $20 million of capital. Gener8tor ranks in the top 30 out of 220 accelerators in the world in terms of the average dollar amount that portfolio companies have raised, according to Seed-DB, a database of all known seed accelerators.

WisBusiness: UW flu researcher details global implications of his work
Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a UW-Madison researcher whose work with dangerous influenza strains made headlines this summer, says his work is not only extremely safe, but also has important implications for global health. Kawaoka’s research has led him to create versions of already-known avian influenza viruses that would have the potential to become global pandemics if released into the general population, he told his audience at the monthly Wisconsin Innovation Network luncheon in Madison.

JSOnline: Mayo Clinic to offer Exact Sciences colon cancer screening test
Exact Sciences Corp. said Aug. 25 that Mayo Clinic will be the first health system to offer the company's non-invasive, DNA-based colon cancer screening test.

JSOnline: Milwaukee's academic institutions explore creating nonprofit center
Leaders from 20 of the region's academic institutions met at Marquette University Thursday to explore the idea of a nonprofit center near downtown Milwaukee that could help their students build start-ups and partnerships with industry. The project will begin with a pilot program in November, with a goal of launching the entire program next summer, said Matt Cordio, co-founder of Startup Milwaukee, which is running the initiative with Innovation in Milwaukee, or MiKE, a project of the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

Marshfield Clinic Health System names Susan Turney as first CEO
The Marshfield Clinic Health System Board of Directors has named Susan L. Turney, MD, MS, FACP, FACMPE, as the Health System's first chief executive officer (CEO). Turney, who will assume the new role September 1, has resigned her position as President & CEO of the Englewood, Colo.-based Medical Group Management Association.

University spinoff aims to hit the mark precisely with brain-scanning tool

Madison Startups: Techstars Patriot Boot Camp comes to Wisconsin
Techstars announced this week the next Patriot Boot Camp event will take place Sept. 26-28 in Madison, expanding from annual events in Washington, D.C., and New York City to regional events.

BizWire: Advanced Cooling Therapy closes $1.5M for esophageal cooling device
Chicago-based emerging medical device firm Advanced Cooling Therapy (ACT) has closed a $1.5 million Series A financing round to support the full commercial launch of its first product, the Esophageal Cooling Device (ECD) to control patient temperature. ACT was a presenter in the WAN Investors' Track at the 2013 Early Stage Symposium.

JSOnline: UWM's Student Startup Challenge selects 10 winners
Ten student teams have been chosen by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to receive a total of about $70,000 in cash and services, along with support for turning their ideas into products or businesses.

JSOnline: UW Extension Ideadvance grants aim to make ideas into products
An infant sleep pod, aimed at reducing the number of infant deaths due to sleeping with an adult, is one of 11 projects being funded through new grants from University of Wisconsin Extension and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Intelligent Composites, third place winner in the Advanced Manufacturing category of the 2014 Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest, is also among the grant recipients.

Green Bay Gazette: Angels provide funding option for businesses
When faced with difficulties in obtaining funding, many entrepreneurs look to angel investment groups. Although only certain types of businesses will qualify, Wisconsin is trying to make it easier for businesses to submit requests through the Wisconsin Angel Network (WAN).

Nordic ranked 46th on Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies in the nation
Nordic has been recognized as the 46th fastest-growing privately held company in the nation on the annual Inc. 500 list, America’s most prestigious ranking of fastest-growing private companies. In addition, Nordic has earned a spot on Modern Healthcare’s 2014 list of the 100 “Best Places to Work in Healthcare.”

JSOnline: Gigabit broadband speed spreads throughout state
In the Village of Siren, a community of about 900 people surrounded by nearly 300 lakes in northwest Wisconsin, you can get Internet speeds up to 50 times faster than what most people have in their homes in Milwaukee or Madison.

BizTimes: Scale Up Milwaukee accepting applications for 'trep training program

Biz Journal: Venture capital firm invests in ZBB Energy's Chinese joint venture

JSOnline: Marshfield research start-up lands angel investor funding

Startup Whole Trees LLC creates strength in lumber

State Journal: D2P program chooses UW inventions for fast track to market

WEDC's website ranked in #3 in new study

Tech Council's WIN-Lake Superior chapter holds Ashland conference

Glass ceiling or hard floor: How women entrepreneurs are raising funds
WIN-Madison
Sheraton Hotel, Madison
Sept. 23

Deadline for applications to present at 2014 Early Stage Symposium
Sept. 24

2014 Midwest Innovation Summit
The Depot Hotel, Minneapolis, Minn.
Oct. 27-28

John Neis of Venture Investors outlines local investment trends
WIN-Madison
Sheraton Hotel, Madison
Oct. 28

2014 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium
Monona Terrace, Madison
Nov. 12-13

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Individual Members
Michael Bark
Michael Doucas
Jill Enos
Frederick Kron
Bruce Lindgren
Shaheeb Roshan
Marcia Theusch

Click here to fill out an online application to become a new member or renew your current membership!