MADISON – More than 45 early stage
companies focused on various industries, including Chinese e-commerce, rare
disease tracking analytics and software to improve your baseball swing, will
pitch to potential investors and others at the 2014 Wisconsin
Early Stage Symposium, to be held Nov. 12-13 at the Monona
Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison.
The conference, which is celebrating
its 30th anniversary, includes two
separate presentation stages: the Wisconsin Angel
Network Investors’ Track and the Elevator
Pitch Olympics. The WAN Investors’ Track will provide an opportunity for 28 companies to give
six-minute presentations during two sessions on Nov. 12. The
10th annual Elevator Pitch Olympics will showcase 18 companies giving 90-second
pitches on Nov. 13. A panel of investor judges will score their pitch and
provide feedback on the spot.
More than 65 companies from across
the Midwest applied to present. Of the selected companies, nearly half of the
28 are in the IT/software sector, while five others are developing medical
devices. Other sectors represented include food technologies, gaming, drug
development and water treatment solutions.
WAN Investors’ Track presenters
include: a-Peer HG LLC; Brand XLerator; CardioPoietis LLC; Cellara LLC; Centaur Systems; Digsite Inc.; Fiberstar Bio-Ingredient Technologies Inc.; HealthMyne
Inc.; Hydro-Lite; IGXBio; Innovenn; Intellihot Green Technologies Inc.; Invenra;
Isomark LLC; MobCraft Beer; NitricGen Inc.; OpenHomes; Organic Research Corp.; Pan
Genome Systems Inc.; Pinpoint Software Inc.; Project Foundry; Quietyme; Sensori;
SmartUQ; Spectrom; Swallow Solutions LLC; WatrHub Inc.; and Web Racing Inc.
Read a short description of each WAN
Track company on the “Presentations” page at www.wisearlystage.com.
Elevator Pitch Olympics presenters
include: Alpha Universe LLC; AuditPad; Concinnity; Field59 Inc.; FloraSeq; Hunt
Butler; ILC; Insulete; Inventalator; Iowa Adaptive Technologies Inc.; Modern
Movement; Momentio Inc.; pHinding Solutions; Refringent Technology LLC;
ScanTribution; Tali Payments LLC; Team Interval; and Vistrata.
The theme of this year’s conference,
“30×10,” marks 30 years since Wisconsin’s first venture conference in 1984. Nearly
500 companies have pitched over the years. The two-day
conference will feature:
- A presentation by Kevin Conroy and Maneesh Arora on the story of
Exact Sciences, which moved from Boston to Wisconsin. - A plenary panel made up of the leaders of major academic research
institutions on Wisconsin’s “I-Q Corridor.” - Presentations by more than 45 companies in the WAN Investors’
Track and the Elevator Pitch Olympics. - More than a dozen panel discussions or plenary sessions featuring
leading entrepreneurs, investors and others tied to the tech sector. - “Office Hours,” offering the opportunity to meet with subject
experts on a variety of topics in small discussion groups. - The annual “First Look” forum featuring selected campus-based
technologies. - Awards for Wisconsin winners of federal merit-based grants.
- Presentation of the inaugural “Excellence in Entrepreneurial
Education” award. - Exhibit hall showcasing more than 40 Wisconsin companies.
- A first-night reception, two luncheons, two breakfasts and other
networking opportunities, including an investors-only dinner.
The Tech Council produces the
conference. Sponsors so far include: Aberdean; American Family Insurance;
American Transmission Co.; Ascendancy Advisors; AT&T; Baird Capital; Baker
Tilly; BDO; BloodCenter of Wisconsin; BMO Harris Bank; Boardman & Clark;
Center for Technology Commercialization; Concordia University; ConfPlus; Cresa
Madison; Dane County Regional Airport; Findorff; Fine Point Consulting; First
Business Bank; Foley & Lardner; Godfrey & Kahn; Group Health
Cooperative; HP Enterprise Services; Insperity; K&L Gates; M3 Insurance;
Madison Gas & Electric; Makin’ HEY Communications; Marquette University;
Marshfield Clinic; Michael Best & Friedrich; Mid-West Energy Research
Consortium; Midwest Prototyping; MoolaPitch.com; Morgridge Institute for
Research; Murphy Desmond; Neider & Boucher; Nelson Schmidt; Nordic
Consulting; PowerBuy 4 You; Quarles & Brady; Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren;
Ruedebusch Development & Construction; Settlers Bank; Skyward; Smith &
Gesteland; State of Wisconsin Investment Board; Tweedee Productions; University
Research Park; UW-Madison Office of Corporate Relations; UW-Milwaukee Research
Foundation; Venture Investors; Virent Energy; Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek;
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.;
Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership; Wisconsin Technical College
System; and WTN Media.
To register and learn more, go to www.wisearlystage.com.
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