More than 170 people attended last week’s West Virginia VC Expo in Fairmont. It was the first time the eight state-funded venture capital firms gathered in one place to see presentations from new andgrowing companies.
“We were very pleased,” said Anna Rittenhouse, commercialization manager for Innova, the firm organizing the event. “We had a full house. We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback, too, so I think we’re going to start planning for next year.”
Five judges chose four of 20 business plans for the West Virginia Entrepreneur’s Forum (WVEF) Symposium, which was the final round of the WVEF’s statewide business plan competition.
“It was a tough decision,” said Greg Clutter, a manager with Innova. “Entrants were from all over the state.”
A VC panel, business leaders and entrepreneurs asked questions and provided feedback during the two-hour symposium.
“It provided an opportunity for these ,groups to come forward with their ,ideas,” Clutter said. “They received valuable feedback, as well as valuable conversation afterwards. … And I’m sure they’ll have follow-up conversations.”
The four winners -Augusta Systems, Grant Manufacturing, Limbic Systems and Redpoint Controls – received 16 hours of consulting time with VC representatives.
Steve Dixon, Grant Manufacturing CEO, said the expo was tremendously helpful in finding ways to push his business forward.
“I had no idea how beneficial it would be,” he said. “It opened my eyes to a lot of things.”
Dixon said Grant Manufacturing, which is based in Petersburg, eventually would need venture capital to launch its main product, the TK Loader, an attachment that allows one person to load heavy equipment into a pickup truck. The TK Loader, Dixon said, is convenient and outperforms the lift gate, which is the current standard for loading pickups. He said it also replaces trailers.
“It’s a new way to load and unload,” Dixon said. “There’s, nothing else like it.”
One version of ‘the loader can haul two large motorcycles, which is why it is part of the Harley-Davidson and Honda tool and equipment programs.
Dixon said three venture capital firms are interested in the TK Loader.
“It’s something that can be big enough for their scale,” he said. “It needs the kind of money they can put into it…. The expo may very well be the key to our success.”
Steve Brinn, CEO and president of Limbic Systems, a forensics and intelligence firm based in Bellingham, Wash., said the expo was a way for his company to learn about the growing infrastructure in West Virginia.
Not only did it mean forming relationships with venture capitalists, it also meant creating partnerships with “the players who are already here.”
While it plans to keep its industrial applications team in Washington, Limbic is looking to establish a parent company somewhere in north central West Virginia to market a “digital image brightener” that allows humans to view the world digitally The device lets users detect 256 color values instead of the usual 32.
Brinn said the company already has received an initial round of angel funding in Washington but will have to attract equity in West Virginia to get its new office going.
Augusta Systems in Morgantown recently closed its initial round of investment after receiving $50,000 from the West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust (JIT), the board in charge of issuing venture capital awards for the state, and $150,000 from individual investors. Assuming Augusta reaches its development goal of $1.8 million, JIT also pledged to invest $200,000 as part of a larger financing round, which should close near the end of the third quarter of 2003.
Augusta is part of Research Ridge, a science and technology campus near the Department of Energy in Morgantown. It specializes in greenhouse gas emission solutions and works directly with the Department of Energy to form reduction initiatives.
Redpoint Controls in Morgantown, meanwhile, is beginning to market a Web-enabling biosensor chip that could connect Ethernet capabilities to industrial machinery. If a piece of equipment breaks down, an e-mail can be sent to the engineer. The sensor monitoring system also can check temperatures or detect leaks in labs and let researchers know when something has changed.
Now, David Cushing and Chris Garman, company founders, are looking for venture capital to hire a marketing manager.
“We’re ahead of the game right now,” Cushing said. “But without money to promote our product, our competitors will catch up.”
“It’s a footrace to the market,” Garman said.
They are currently preparing to close a lucrative deal with an industrial control systems firm.
The participating venture capital firms were Adena Ventures, an Ohio company that provides assistance to small businesses in central Appalachia; Anthem Capital Management, a Maryland-based firm focusing primarily on telecommunications and life sciences; Mountaineer Capital, which provides venture financing to new and existing businesses; Natural Capital Investment Fund, a revolving loan and equity program; PA Early State, which invests in technology start-ups; Toucan Capital, which focuses on information technology and life science sectors; Walker Ventures, which looks at Internet and software technologies; and JIT.
Copyright State Journal Corporation May 02, 2003
