Grocery shoppers, prepare to save! Customers at Shop ‘n Save supermarkets in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia are ringing up extra savings at the register – taking advantage of extra “Mobile Club” savings each time they shop. They are able to save because of mobile promotions and coupon technology provided by CI portfolio company ShopText and partner You Technology.

ShopText technology enables shoppers to save without the hassle of clipping and fumbling for paper coupons. Customers who sign up to be in the Shop ‘n Save Mobile Club receive special offers sent directly to their supermarket loyalty cards. Text message offers and promotions will follow at least weekly. All they do next is proceed to the check-out line after shopping and swipe their loyalty cards for the savings.

Here’s a link to a recent article in Grocery Headquarters Magazine that discusses supermarket loyalty cards and ShopText’s technology. I would also recommend that you click through to an article in Supermarket News that talks about the Shop ‘n Save Mobile Club.

Pauline Murphy
Managing Director, Investments

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Posted under From the Deal Team, Portfolio Company News, Uncategorized

Beginning September 1, 2010, our Connecticut SBIR Office will be offering “Go/NoGo™” Technology Assessment Reports. If you are a small Connecticut technology company/manufacturer with 1-500 employees, thinking about a new innovative product/service/process, you should apply for one. They will be provided on a first-come-first-served basis – and they are free. Watch our YouTube video for more information.

So What Exactly Are “Go/NoGo™” Reports?
These technical assessments are 8-12 page reports that evaluate your technology idea and help you make a determination of whether or not you should spend your valuable time and/or financial resources pursuing it. The reports look at the competition, patents, market size, market need, potential partners and the likelihood of successful licensing or other forms of commercialization. If you get a “no go” it means that developing your idea is not recommended. While this sounds negative, it is really quite positive because it helps you weed out bad ideas so that you can spend your resources more wisely on good ones.

1.  If you receive a “conditional go” it generally identifies hurdles that need to be overcome so that you can have the best chance of success.
2. If you receive a “go,” congratulations, you have been given the green light!

How Else Can These Reports Be Used?
Whenever a company receives encouragement from an objective technology expert it can be leveraged for multiple purposes. Examples are attracting financing, collaborative partners and advisory board members as well as developing the commercialization portions of SBIR proposals.

How and When Can I Apply?
To apply, you simply fill out an application that will be downloadable from our Web site: http://www.ctinnovations.com/funding/sbir/go.php. It should take less than 30 minutes to complete. Applications will be reviewed on a first-come-first-served basis  .

If you would like to be on our distribution list, please send us an email with all of your contact information (name, company name, phone number, email address, physical address, and technology area of interest).

Good Luck!

Deb Santy
Director, Connecticut SBIR Office

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Posted under CT SBIR, Uncategorized

Making the Inc. Magazine list of 5,000 fastest growing U.S. private companies is a big thing. So, as you can imagine, we were thrilled to see that CI portfolio company Perimeter eSecurity of Milford made the list! Congratulations to Perimeter!

Additionally, former CI portfolio company Open Solutions of Glastonbury made the list.

At the time CI invested in both companies, they were small and fledging. It is a great accomplishment to see both of these companies become so successful! Their success clearly demonstrates that the investments CI makes and the work we do are important to Connecticut’s future economic growth.

According to the Hartford Courant article “Connecticut’s Fastest Growing Private Companies,” published on August 25, the rankings in the Inc. Magazine list were based on sales growth by percent from 2006 to 2009.

Here is a link to the Hartford Courant article, which highlights a number of Connecticut companies on the list.

Peter Longo
President & Executive Director

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Posted under Message from the President

Kate Vick
Chairman, CI Valuation Committee
Venture Advisor, Vick & Company
Founder & Owner, http://www.jstockardflyfishing.com/

As chairman of the CI Valuation Committee, I am acutely aware of the ebb and flow of market conditions and how those conditions affect the valuation of companies and their ability to raise new capital and implement growth strategies such as hiring new staff and launching new products.

It often seems to me that too many companies respond to market conditions by overreaching at the top of the market cycles and reacting too slowly to early signs of a market turnaround. Therefore I am here to speak in support of countercyclical thinking!

Contrarian thinking could be especially valuable right now as we are certainly in the midst of a very significant market cycle. It’s not always easy to know exactly where we are in the cycle. Are we slowly exiting a recessionary period, facing a ‘double dip’ or ready for a major uptick in business? My advice, whatever the scenario, is don’t run for cover. Get your expansion strategy in order now. Why not take advantage of the large pool of available and qualified talent and hire the staff you’ll need when the market takes off. Initiate plans for your next product or service launch so you’ll be ready when the market is. And, if you are going to need more capital to sustain future growth, make your plans now so you can reach out to investors just when the time is right!

The ability to maintain an aggressive stance – in terms of staff hiring, new initiatives and raising capital – is at the heart of being an entrepreneurial manager. So go ahead, think about adding that new sales person, finalizing plans for a new product launch or updating the business plan you’ll need to raise new capital. When the market makes a full recovery, you’ll be happy you did.

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Posted under Tech Community / VC World

It’s not every day that I have the opportunity to convey information about Connecticut Innovations over the radio. But on Sunday morning, both Charlie Moret, our managing director of business development, and I were featured in an interview with John Voket of Cox Radio. He quizzed us about the new CTech IncUBator at the University of Bridgeport, which is now open for business and accepting tenant applications.

CI, the University of Bridgeport and The United Illuminating Company partnered to make this technology business incubator possible.

The CTech IncUBator at University of Bridgeport is interested in attracting up to six  tenants. Who’s eligible? Entrepreneurs and emerging companies interested in commercializing technology in the information technology, digital media, advanced materials, and clean technology sectors, as well as other technology industry sectors.

To hear more about this Bridgeport-based technology business incubator, please click through to the full radio interview, which also includes an interview with Gad Selig of University of Bridgeport. The interview was featured on both WPLR’s “For the People” show (99.1 FM) and Star 99.9’s “Public File” show.

Peter Longo
President and Executive Director

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Posted under Message from the President

When people think “venture capital investors,” they usually think of people with lots of money looking for a place to invest it. What we do here at Connecticut Innovations, though, is quite a bit more than that. One of our roles is connecting talented individuals with startup companies. Why? Well, if we help a company hire the right person to run its finances or its sales organization, that company will become more profitable and grow. This is good for both the portfolio company and CI, because we share in the company’s added profitability.

We also benefit if we can help a non-portfolio company hire the right people. Helping a non-portfolio company to identify potential candidates is one way we can make the company more profitable without making a financial investment. Our economic development mission is still fulfilled, because those profitable companies are more likely to grow in Connecticut and produce more jobs. Matching companies and people further helps CI by expanding our network and keeping us tuned in to the needs of Connecticut companies.

Patrick O’Neill
Investment Associate

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Posted under From the Deal Team, Uncategorized

We had another tough year of budget constraints and cuts at the Connecticut State Capitol in FY-2010, but the state continues to believe in and support its effort to be a leader in scientific research. During the 2010 budget cycle, the legislature committed to maintain the $10 million allocated to the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Program, which in turn allowed the program’s Advisory Committee to move forward and award 22 new grants.

While Connecticut Innovations continues to be active in advancing technology in the state mainly through early-stage venture investments, CI also administers the state’s Stem Cell Research Program (in addition to the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and the Connecticut SBIR Office and its programs). Since the first Connecticut stem cell funding round in 2006, CI has provided administrative support to the Advisory Committee as well as to all 87 grant projects funded to date. CI has helped deploy $39.4 million to research institutions throughout the state and is diligently working to contract with the 2010 awardees and initiate another $9.8million worth of grants. 

Through efficient communication with the research institutions, the Advisory Committee, and the Connecticut Department of Public Health, CI continues to manage the day-to-day responsibilities of this program – one that sets Connecticut apart as a technology leader. We hope to continue to foster these important relationships and drive high-tech entrepreneurship in the state.

Dan Wagner
Senior Investment Associate

Chelsey Sarnecky
External Relations Coordinator

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Posted under Uncategorized

There is encouraging news for entrepreneurs who launched new businesses during the current recession… Their firms tend to show “resilience in job creation and durability.” 

In an article published recently by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Robert E. Litan, vice president of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation, notes, “Even starting a company during a recession adversely affects the new firm for only a limited time…While a recession has a negative effect on a company’s employment in its first few years, a recession does not impose lasting consequences on startups…Firms started during the current recession can expect their employment to catch up with longer-term companies in the years to come.”

Read more in a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, “After Inception: How Enduring is Job Creation by Startups?”

Peter Longo
President & Executive Director

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Posted under Message from the President

In the venture capital world there are plenty of theories as to how to evaluate an investment opportunity. At CI, our Deal Team is charged with weeding through many potential investments and focusing on those that make the most sense for CI and the state of Connecticut. I find that a company’s management team is where I focus the most attention. 

One thing I look for on a management team is experience. While past success in entrepreneurship is not an indication of future success, it is certainly in the “plus” column. However, other less favorable experiences are also valuable. Some might argue that we learn much more from our failures, mistakes, and tribulations than we do from our successes.  

I also look for the team’s proper motivation and alignment with investors. Too often I see founders trying to retain so much equity in their babies that deals fall apart. Sometimes, when new money is needed, founders aren’t aligned properly with the others around the table. Managers should understand that 50%, 40%, even 10% of something is worth more than 100% of nothing. Ideas that don’t make it to the masses are just that: ideas. In the end, management teams that align themselves with their investors, and investors that properly motivate their managers, are best positioned for success.  

Kevin Crowley
Managing Director, Investments

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Posted under From the Deal Team

Data speaks volumes. A recently released study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation highlights data that proves existing firms are net job destroyers and new firms (startups less than one year old and new locations) are net job creators. The study analyses 28 years worth of data (1977-2005) from the U.S. Census Bureau.

This is all the more reason for us to strengthen our support of emerging companies in Connecticut.

Interestingly, the Kauffman Foundation’s press release notes, “Because startups that develop organically are almost solely the drivers of job growth, job-creation policies aimed at luring larger, established employers will inevitably fail, said the study’s author, Tim Kane, Kauffman Foundation senior fellow in Research and Policy.”

Here are links to the Kauffman Foundation’s press release about the study and to the study itself, “The Importance of Startups in Job Creation and Job Destruction.”

Peter Longo
President & Executive Director

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Posted under Message from the President