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Lexington ICC gets new director

June 30, 2008

The Lexington Innovation & commercialization center is getting a new director. Patrick Powell, currently ICC Director for Western Kentucky, will be starting in the Lexington Position July 1st. The current Director, Dean Harvey, has taken a new position at UK within the office of commercialization and economic development.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Kentucky Green

June 24, 2008

I write this blog to highlight the interesting happenings in Kentucky entrepreneurship, especially the high tech side. Most people, both inside and outside the state, are not aware of the interesting companies and pockets of innovation in a state like Kentucky. One area, however, where I think the state has missed an opportunity is in alternative fuels and technology. Kentucky was well positioned to be a leader in this area. Kentucky is a state with an abundance of coal as well as some oil and natural gas. You might think this would be a negative but what it means is that we have a lot of engineering talent and market experience in the energy sector. The University of Kentucky has an applied energy research program focused on these very areas and a shared reserach agreement with Oak ridge national labs. However at the state level, we have focused on giving large subsidies to large companies like Peabody coal for coal gasification, clean coal and coal liquefaction. While these technologies may have a role to play, our dollars would have been better spent supporting startups and commercializing technologies on the cutting edge of green technology.
Some recent progress has been made. In addition to the state matching SBIR program, the state through KSTC has initiated a grant and investment program focused on green fuels. Alltech, a local biotech company focused on animal health, nutrition and performance received a $30 million grant from the DOE to develop a rural community Bio-refinery.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Politics, Venture Capital |  

7 million in funding

June 20, 2008

Kentucky is the only state to match both SBIR phase 1 and phase 2 federal research grants.  SInce the program started in 2006, over 7 million in matching grants have been awarded to 31 companies.  The strength of this program is that with fewer strings attached to this money, a company can use it to scale the business side more efectively while research continues.  In fact the company I work with, Transposagen Bio is a recepient of a million dollar match of a phase 2 SBIR grant.  This has allowed us to scale much quicker than if we had the federal grant only.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Venture Capital |  

LinkedIn gets its’ billion

June 18, 2008

In a previous post about LinkedIn, we talked about the difficulty LinkedIn was having in selling itself. Now They have their funding round and their billion valuation. The investors in this case must believe that the growth in social network use among adults and professionals which is expected to be strong over the next five years will benefit LinkedIn. I like linkedIn but am waiting for some stronger features especially around recommendations for the to really fulfill the promise of the professional social network.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Venture Capital |  

send your website to school

June 16, 2008

If you own a business and want a quick and dirty assessment of the effectiveness of your website, check out websitegrader.com.  The guys at Hubspot created this tool and I have used it to assess the websites of companies I am involved with and to evaluate our competitors.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Profile: GreenerWay

June 11, 2008

Today’s profile is about GreenerWay, a Louisville, KY startup founded by Josh Beatty:

Tell me about Greenerway?

Have you ever received your utility bill and wondered why its so high or where did it all come from?  Two years ago I realized how little control I had over my energy use and how critical this information was to help effectively conserve. Through that I developed GreenerWay, an energy management system that is able to monitor and control individual circuits and outlets throughout ones home.  So you can tell not only how much electricity you are using, but where it is occurring and when.  You are also able to turn things on and off from any browser, including your iphone.

What funding have you had so far?

I have been funded so far through personal savings, the Vogt Invention and Innovation Award and the Kentucky Science and Technology ICC Concept Development Award.  I am currently finishing up an initial angel investment round.

Where did your passion for green technology develop?

My passion for Green technology stems from my time camping, seeing the beauty and magic of nature in its unspoiled form.  I led backcountry adventure trips for two years at a camp called Widjiwagan, through some of the most remote and beautiful places in the US and Canada.  We each carry a burden when it comes to our consumption and its impact on the environment. Out of sight is out of mind, and by bringing our energy usage to the forefront of our lives (our computer web browser), I hope to inform and motivate people to save and conserve.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

State of KY venture funding

June 3, 2008

Today’s Post is my interview with George Emont. He is a partner with Triathlon Medical ventures and managing partner with the Kentucky Seed Capital Fund.

1) Tell me about the state of venture investing in Kentucky?

The good news is that there is more venture capital activity in Kentucky especially at the earliest stages, than there ever has been. That said, we are behind several of our neighboring states in terms of the availability of capital.  Several of the efforts in Kentucky to generate early stage funds are dwarfed by efforts in Ohio and Indiana for example. On the positive side, we have some better state programs that help to support these early stage companies (such as the SBIR matching program). There is still a need for more capital to support companies as they develop. The efforts that my funds have made to support local companies and to develop investment syndicates that bring in money from out of state have made a difference, but are just a start.  As a side note, remember that my funds only invest in health care, with an emphasis on technology companies (e.g. biotech, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices) and so my perspective from looking only at the health care sector.

2) What trends do you see among startups in Kentucky, strengths, weaknesses?

Again, realizing that I am focused on health care technologies only, I see some encouraging trends. The raw material for our companies, basic research being performed at our universities, is of high quality and has been increasing. The significant positive impact of the “Bucks for Brains” program is evident. The lack of continued funding of that program over the last four years (with the exception of some funding for facilities), has halted the upward trend of research dollars from the National Institutes of Health that are coming into Kentucky, and actually caused a decline since a couple of years ago. The current state budget includes a small amount of renewed funding for the program and I would encourage additional support in the years to come.

With high quality research and some early stage capital available there is the opportunity for generating exciting businesses here.  One significant weakness that we confront is the need for experienced executives in the health care technology sectors which historically have not been common in Kentucky.  In the next couple of years we hope to demonstrate that it is possible to recruit this talent into our state to run these exciting companies.

3) You manage both Triathlon medical ventures and the KY seed capital fund; tell me about the opportunities that would be of interest for each fund?

The Kentucky Seed Capital Fund invests only in health care opportunities, broadly defined. This includes health care services, health care IT, as well as the health care technology areas I mentioned above (medical devices, biotech, pharma, and diagnostics). We do not invest outside of health care as the career experience of the managing partners is only in health care and we believe that we can both best evaluate these opportunities and also add the most value to companies that are developing products and services in markets that we know. Triathlon invests in the health care technology sectors I have previously mentioned (this does not include health care IT or services).  We look for product opportunities that have strong intellectual property protection, that solve problems and which are not just incremental improvements on the current therapies or products in the market.

4) Commercialization of University research is a hot topic on campuses here in Kentucky especially life science related research, what do you see coming from this area in the next 5-10 years.

As mentioned before, I believe that continued funding of the Bucks For Brains program in critical for Kentucky.  Both UK and U of L have very strong programs that can generate interesting investment opportunities. In addition, with the new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at Coldstream and the new nanotechnology clean room at U of L, we have state of the art facilities that companies can use in their early stages to advance their products without having to build out their own specialized facilities.  I believe that if the state continues to work toward developing additional sources of capital, Kentucky has the opportunity to create many exciting and successful companies. We are in a competitive environment, and it is easy for a start-up company to decide to locate across the border where resources may be more plentiful.  Kentucky needs to make sure that it competes effectively so that the companies will both start here and stay here.

Written by Richard Stump · Filed Under Blog, Venture Capital |