News

Wayne Brown Institute showcases tech firms to venture capitalists

For nearly two decades the folks at the Wayne Brown Institute http://venturecapital.org/ have been putting on conferences designed to put Utah companies in front of investors and venture capitalists, and this past week the WBI team was at it once again.

By David L. Politis Deseret News

With the Grand Summit Lodge at the Canyons Resort in Park City as its venue, the WBI hosted the 2003 Investors Choice Global Venture Capital Conference and pulled it off with flair.

Participants came from throughout the U.S., as well as from Europe and Asia, and included venture capitalists, private investors, bankers, financial advisors, companies seeking funding and a host of other interested parties.

As in the past couple of years, this year’s event featured two tracks of presenting companies during the day-long main event: one featuring high-tech companies, and the other featuring scientific/life sciences firms.

Although the WBI has moved away from focusing on only Utah firms (something I think has improved the event), half of the 26 investment-seeking companies were from the Beehive State.

Additionally, two publicly traded, Utah-based companies (Altiris and Sonic Innovations, both of which are former presenters at previous WBI conferences) also presented at last week’s event.

Broken out below (in alphabetical order) is a list of the firms that presented at the Investors Choice confab, along with a brief description of the product or service each has and the amount of funding the firms are seeking:

# Aciont is a Salt Lake City-based firm targeting diseases and conditions that threaten eyesight by developing non-invasive systems for delivering medicines directly to the human eye. The company is looking to raise $8 million to $10 million.

# AMEDICA has developed new surgical implants for use in knee, hip and vertebrae replacements. The company has previously raised $1.7 million in seed funding and has previously won grants from the National Institutes of Health. AMEDICA is looking to raise $5 million in a Series A round of funding.

#BioReaction – Tualatin, OR
BioReaction Industries (BRI) designs, manufactures and sells patented industrial
filtration systems that biologically absorb and digest Volatile Organic Compounds
(VOCs) and odors created in industrial processes. The VOCs and odors are converted to
carbon dioxide and water vapor.

# Cerberian provides advanced Internet filtering software solutions to hardware manufacturers and service providers. The Draper-based firm has raised $4.7 million previously and is seeking $3.5 million in a Series B round of funding. (Politis Communications provides public relations services to Cerberian.)

#COMERXIA, Inc. – Hallandale, FL
COMERXIA, Inc., formerly DoUWantIt, Inc., is a global commerce enabler with a
simple, proven, turnkey and scalable process that not merely enables international trade
but actually creates it. COMERXIA allows clients to compete globally, increase local
sales volume, create top line revenue, effect competitive advantages, and enhance
profitability without additional capital investment.

# DriveSafety is a Salt Lake City-based developer of PC-based driving simulation solutions. Series A funding was provided by Utah-based VCs vSpring and EsNet. The company is looking to raise $3 million in a Series B round of funding.

#Euro International – Indianapolis, IN – Milan, Italy
Euro International Inc. is an Indiana-based company founded in 1992, which include in
its activities a division for develop, manufacture and market a product called Impact
Protection System (I.P.S.). I.P.S. is an energy-absorbing barrier invented in 1994 and
further developed for racing applications at racetracks to engage and dissipate kinetic
energy of racecars crashing against walls or protective barriers. After four years of
research, tests and development, in 1998 I.P.S. received from the Federation International
de L’Automobile (F.I.A.) the approval to be used in international racetracks. In 1999,
I.P.S., was officially presented to media, track’s owners, racing Federations and
production started at the associated factory of Eurofill Srl in Villasanta (Milan), Italy.
Since I.P.S. presentation, this revolutionary energy-absorbing system has become one of
the worldwide leaders of safety barriers for racetracks, testing facilities and special
applications. Today I.P.S. barriers are installed in 7 international racetrack, 27 karting
centers, 2 testing facilities, 1 horsetrack and several special applications in highways and
public roads. Euro International Inc. has created an I.P.S. Division with a research and
assembly facility in Indianapolis, Indiana for the USA market and one main research,
production and assembly factory in Villasanta (Milan) Italy with the associated company
Eurofill Srl for the European market. Euro International Inc. has created in Indianapolis a
mobile assembly line, on a special transporter, for built I.P.S. barriers at the locations of
use, saving transportation costs. The Company has been organized to commercialize
I.P.S. all around the world with dealers in Brazil, Japan and Russia for these markets,
while the Indianapolis headquarter manage the USA market and a branch in Rome, Italy
the European sales. From 1999 to today, I.P.S. total sales have been $ 2.2 million; our
Company has inventory in USA for $ 175,000 and $ 150,000 in Italy. I.P.S. has already
been presented to the Minnesota and Utah Department of Transportation for public
applications in USA, while already is present in Italian Highways.

#Farfield Sensors – Manchester, England
Farfield Sensors is a UK-based start-up company commercializing a new concept in
measurement for the life scientist revealing the relationship between a protein structure
and its function. For the first time, it is possible to detect not only the presence or absence
of a protein but also how it behaves or functions at a fidelity highly relevant to the
pharmaceutical researcher. The Company’s first product, the AnaLight® Bio200, is
targeted at the rapidly expanding market of Protein Characterization where it is the first
to recognize that the measurement of protein size and density in real time are directly
correlated to protein function. As the technology becomes accepted as the de facto
standard for characterization, a downstream opportunity exists to have it mandated as the
means of validation for Protein Expression (manufacture).

# More than 50,000 customers have bought Frontline Phonics from Frontline Educational Products to help children between the ages of 3 and 7 learn to read. The Orem-based company has raised approximately $900,000 previously and is seeking $3 million in funding.

#Hawaii Biotech – Honolulu, HI
Hawaii Biotech is a Hawaii based biotechnology company with nearly twenty years of
operating history and more than $30 million in federal research funding, including more
than $5.5 million in the last year alone. This funding has created a broad pipeline of
potential pharmaceutical products and the Company is now poised to commercialize
several of these projects. Towards this end, we completed a $2.5 million Series A round
earlier this year.
The Company has built a strong management team with over 160 years of biotech and
pharmaceutical industry experience. We will use the financing sought to fund preclinical,
Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, positioning these projects for licensing – with
the goal of an IPO driven by profitability within four years.

#Hoku Scientific – Honolulu, HI
Primary focus is a new fuel cell membrane (Hoku Membrane™) with the potential to
replace Nafion® as the leading membrane solution for use in Proton Exchange
Membrane (PEM) fuel cells. PEM fuel cells are considered the leading fuel cell design
for use in transportation, stationary (including residential and commercial) and portable
applications. The Hoku Membrane™ offers substantially better performance than the
competition, while reducing product costs by as much as 90%. In addition to the Hoku
Membrane™, Hoku Scientific is also working on an alternate membrane for use in direct
methanol fuel cells, as well as a new low operating temperature fuel cell design.

# Salt Lake City-based Lipocine is developing lipid-based drug delivery solutions for the non-invasive delivery of "poorly soluble and challenging water-soluble drugs." The company has previously raised close to $7.5 million and is seeking $8 million in its current round of funding.

# MediConnect.net is a South Jordan-based provider of services to the medical record retrieval portion of the health information management industry. The venture-backed company is looking to raise $3 million in a Series B round of funding.

# North Face Learning intends to create the "finest university in the world for software developers." Having already acquired an accredited university out of Nevada, Salt Lake City-based North Face is hoping to raise an additional $5 million to $10 million in Series B funding.

# Salt Lake City-based Perimeter Labs creates forensically viable data security solutions for industries ranging from financial services, health care and insurance and risk management, among others. The company is looking to raise $5 million to $10 million in additional funding. (Politis Communications provides public relations services to Perimeter.)

#Perlan Therapeutics – San Diego, CA
Perlan Therapeutics develops recominant protein-based biologic drugs. The company
has created the proprietary Multi-Valence platform technology that enables the design
and easy production of high-affinity therapeutic and prophylactic proteins by a
multivalent binding mechanism. The first drug candidate, ColdSol, is an antibodybased
fusion protein for the prevention and treatment of human rhinovirus infection.
Perlan is committed to commercializing this needed and distinctive therapy.
Independently and through partnerships, Perlan also plans to apply the Multi-Valence
technology to other monoclonal antibodies was well as a wide varity of other therapeutic
proteins to increase their potential efficacy.

# Midvale-based Phonex Broadband is the world leader in home-based networking solutions utilizing electrical power lines as the physical transport layer. Having raised $13.9 million in debt and equity, the company is seeking an additional $5 million in funding.

# Rappore Technologies provides software security solutions for users of portable computers and wireless networking systems. The Orem-based firm has raised approximately $6 million and is looking for an additional $10 million in funding. (Politis Communications provides public relations services to Perimeter.)

#Telemetric Corp. – Boise, ID
Telemetric Corporation “the Company” is the industry leader in providing electric
utilities with cost-effective intelligent wireless solutions for communicating with remote
equipment and machinery. Telemetric’s solutions have helped nearly 100 utilities control
costs and improve customer service by allowing them to cost-effectively monitor,
control, and automate equipment located down-line from their substations

# Another Orem-based company is Trulite Technology, an early stage firm developing compact, lightweight and long-life power sources for portable electronic equipment. The company is looking for $190,000 today and $10 million in funding over the next two years.

# ZARS is a Salt Lake City-based company developing systems that utilize heat to accelerate drug delivery and release through and under the skin. The company has previously raised $14 million and is seeking an additional $20 million in funding.

Kudos to Brad Bertoch and the entire WBI team for another solid venture capital conference a valuable resource to tech and biotech companies in Utah and beyond.

David Politis leads Politis Communications, a public relations, investor relations and marketing communications agency serving the high-tech and biotech markets.

E-mail: [email protected].

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,455031734,00.html

News Catrgory Sponspor:


Dorsey & Whitney - An International business law firm, applying a business perspective to clients' needs in Missoula, Montana and beyond.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.