Early Stage Symposium celebrates history, drives state forward

Nearly 600 people attended the 2014 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium at Madison's Monona Terrace in November, as tech innovation leaders from across the state and region gathered for a mixture of the latest trends, best practices and to hear pitches from emerging companies.

The 30th anniversary of the annual conference featured speakers such as Kevin Conroy of Madison's Exact Sciences, a fast-growing company which is developing a home colon cancer test kit (video); a panel looking back at 30 years of venture conferences in the state with past participants like TomoTherapy founder Rock Mackie (video); and a discussion around innovation at major R&D institutions featuring UW Chancellor Becky Blank, UW-Milwaukee Interim Chancellor Mark Mone and Jacqueline Fredrick, president and CEO of the BloodCenter of Wisconsin.

There were two separate tracks of investor pitches from emerging companies from a variety of Wisconsin cities and other areas of the Midwest. The second day of the conference saw Chicago-based Team Interval take first prize in the 10th annual Elevator Pitch Olympics. Team Interval is developing a system to manage the health and care of student athletes. The People's Choice Award, which is based on audience votes, went to FloraSeq, a Waukesha company developing therapeutic solutions for gastrointestinal ailments. (See complete list of companies)

The conference also featured the Wisconsin Angel Network's investors' dinner where Roger Ganser, a founder of Madison venture capital firm Venture Investors, was inducted into the Wisconsin Investor Hall of the Fame (See Ganser's comments). Tim Keane, director of Golden Angels Investors, received the first "Excellence in Entrepreneurial Education" award. Keane was one of the first to develop entrepreneurial academic programs in Wisconsin. (See Keane's comments).

See below for a full conference wrap-up:

• "30X10" opening video - highlighting history of the conference and past presenters
• Footage of keynote presentation - Kevin Conroy and Graham Lidgard, Exact Sciences
• Remarks by Tim Keane - 2014 recipient of the "Excellence in Entrepreneurial Education" award
• Remarks by Roger Ganser - 3rd inductee to the "Wisconsin Investor Hall of Fame"
• Summary of media coverage
• View photos of the event
• Final registration list - by company and by last name

The Wisconsin Angel Network produced an angel investor forum at Lambeau Field on Nov. 20,

bringing together investors and others for a discussion on supporting startups in Wisconsin.

The event, sponsored by Quarles & Brady, included an overview of the current funding environment and investment activity in the state, along with an in-depth examination of changing IP regulatory issues investors need to be aware of. Ken Johnson, the manager of the state's Badger fund of funds program, also presented his vision as the venture capital program gets started. Attendees also heard from officials with the Green Bay Packers and discussed efforts to grow the city's startup economy.

If you would like to participate, organize or sponsor a future Investors' Edge forum in your part of the state, please contact Wisconsin Angel Network Director Dan Blake.

Hopster, a startup focused on the digital coupon business founded by a serial Wisconsin entrepreneur, was acquired earlier this month by Inmar Inc., a North Carolina-based e-commerce company.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the deal represented an "attractive transition" for Hopster's investors, which included lead investor NEW Capital Fund, based in the Fox Valley, and Wisconsin Investment Partners (WIP), an angel group in Madison, said Brad Taylor, a WIP emeritus co-manager.

Charlie Goff, president of NEW Capital Management, said his firm's investment in Hopster was based on the experience and success of Hopster founder and serial entrepreneur, Brian Wiegand. Wiegand has founded five companies, with four of the five now sold to larger businesses.

Baird Capital, the venture capital arm of Milwaukee's Robert W. Baird & Co., announced the close of its fourth venture capital fund with a total of $185 million raised.  The fund has already invested in five companies, including Madison health tech company Catalze.io.

Baird has made a number of other Wisconsin investments over time, including TomoTherapy, Promega, NimbleGen Systems, and others.

“With our experienced team and disciplined investment strategy, we will continue striving to generate strong returns for our investors,” Gordon Pan, managing partner of Baird Capital, said in a statement. “We are very happy to have the continued support of our existing investors as well as the backing of many new limited partners."

Mark Bakken, the founder of Nordic Consulting, a fast-growing Madison firm that provides

healthcare IT consulting services, is stepping down to start a venture capital fund.

Bakken, a Wisconsin Technology Council board member, has invested previously in Madison area startups and plans to focus the fund on healthcare IT companies getting started in the state's capital city.

“I’m an entrepreneur at heart,” Bakken said in a statement, “and after five years of leading Nordic and building a very successful company, I’m turning it over to our exceptional team so I can help other healthcare IT start-ups in the Madison area.”

Milwaukee software firm IPO heats up startup economy

Connecture, a Milwaukee software firm focused on the health care insurance exchange market, is planning to raise $86 million in an IPO, more evidence of the growth in the state's startup economy, according to state business leader and investor John Torinus.

Torinus recently provided an overview of the changes he's seeing in the state: "Many evangelists for the entrepreneurial ecosystem are steadily transforming Wisconsin from a fly-over state to a hot spot that attracts venture investors from out of state."

Madison is the second-best city in the nation -- behind only Arlington, Virginia -- for young entrepreneurs to make their mark, according to NerdWallet.

Solaris Inc., a West Allis medical products company, has been purchased by a European conglomerate of medical device and product companies for an undisclosed amount, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Solaris has about 70 employees in its offices in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis. Kyle Weatherly, president of Solaris, will stay with the company.

Meanwhile, medical technology company Phillips-Medisize Corp. announced plans to invest $30 million in five Wisconsin locations and hire 484 new workers in the region part of a major expansion.

Milwaukee's Edison DC Systems closes on $1.4 million in funding

Edison DC Systems Inc., a company developing a power conversion system for large energy users, closed on a $1.4 million funding round, led by Chicago-based Energy Foundry, according to Xconomy.

The company graduated from the Gener8tor accelerator program in 2014. 

Solomo Technology, a Madison firm focused on physical data analytics, has raised $331,000 of a planned $1 million raise. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee businessman Robert Kraft purchased Berkshire Hathaway-owned World Marketing Inc. in a recent deal that will relocate the firm's headquarters to Milwaukee. News release

Gener8tor, an accelerator that runs programs annually in Madison and Milwaukee, raised a $2.1 million fund, according to filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Investors included CSA Partners, Venture Management and Wisconsin Investment Partners.

Madison's Virent Energy has signed an "expression of interest" with several of the world's largest companies, providing preferred access to the firm's plant-based chemical being developed for recyclable packaging and polyester fibers. Wisconsin State Journal 

Douglas Dynamics, a producer of snow plows and ice equipment for trucks, agreed to purchase an Iowa-based manufacturer for $95 million. Milwaukee Business Journal

Cover5 Inc., a New Berlin provider of office-pool type sports games for the mobile and web devices, has raised $325,000 of outside funding. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Xylome, a Madison biotech firm, has reached an agreement with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) to develop and market its unconventional yeasts for the production of biofuels and renewable chemicals. News release