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Dear Visitor,
Our selected
start-ups.
Matt Noah, CEO,
NetSuds.com,
matt@netsuds.com
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Start-Ups Selected to Present |
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Paul Zivalich, CEO.
Prescient, LLC Technology Services foundation is built on sound
business principles that will deliver solid returns, sustainable
residual income and impressive equity accumulation to its principals
via a telecommunications subscription business. We will accomplish
this by becoming the premier telecommunication service provider for
communities throughout the United States that embrace forward thinking
infrastructure planning. Unlike most telecommunications
ventures, this business uses a “smart build” approach to
infrastructure and back office expenditures, along with the
sensibilities associated with privately held businesses that place a
premium on deriving true profitability from their endeavors. With
this in mind, we have set aside the “build it and they will come”
logic of many failed technology ventures. In its stead we have
embraced a different maxim – “if they buy it, we will build it”.
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Gary Anderson, CEO. Netbriefings provides services
that enable companies to produce in-house, high-quality Internet based
corporate streaming-media Webcasts events that augment corporate
communications and education. Netbriefings combines its proprietary
software with standard, readily available hardware to allow customers
to produce live and on-demand streaming-media presentations from their
own facilities. The combination of Netbriefings’ software with
off-the-shelf audio and video components allows companies to increase
the frequency, reach and effectiveness of their corporate
communications and training programs. The
Company is in the Web Conferencing market, which is expected to grow
by 77% to $5.2 billion by 2005 (Source: Wainhouse Research, September
2000). The company has its product in production, and national
distribution channels already in place. The Company finished off
fiscal year 2001 with $1.3 million in revenue, and has raised over $2
million in debt and equity from individual investors and founder
capital and is now seeking $10M for expansion. |
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Thomas E. Brust, President
and CEO. Micronet Medical is a privately-based company in
St. Paul that has designed, developed, and launched the world’s first
micro-lead technology for neurostimulation. The neurostimulation
market is currently a $380M under penetrated market and expected to
grow to more than $3B annually by maturity. Multiple patents protect
this versatile lead technology platform. Our proven and experienced
management team, in device development and neurostimulation marketing,
believes this fundamental platform will expand current clinical
indications, while offering additional opportunities to address unmet
needs in other medical applications. |
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Jean-Paul Rasschaert
, VP Sales & Marketing. CardialCare is a privately held corporation
dedicated to the development, acquisition, and marketing of
breakthrough medical devices for cardiac indications, with an initial
focus on heart failure and cardiogenic shock. Located in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, CCI also has extensive development and marketing
relationships throughout Europe.
A breakthrough alternative to emergency
cardiac surgery would be a minimally invasive, easy to use, and
relatively inexpensive temporary device that provides the same
mechanical circulatory support of a VAD. CCI will bring to market
such an innovative device—the Figuera Intra-ventricular Balloon Pump (FIBAP)
- slated for European introduction in Q4 2004. Technically, the
patent-protected FIBAP has demonstrated superior performance and
applicability as a blood pump. In animal studies, the FIBAP has shown
the ability to supply a blood flow comparable to that obtainable with
a VAD - up to 4.5 Liter/min even when the heart is totally still. At
the same time, it offers cardiologists the same low-cost, easy
procedure they currently use to place other balloon devices such as
the IAB. |
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David Land, CEO.
Medisyn Technologies, a Minnetonka biotech startup, aims to
commercialize breakthrough technology that can speed up the drug
development lifecycle. Medisyn provides value-added drug discovery
services and drug licensing candidates. Pharmaceutical companies
can save up to 7 years and $250 Million in traditional research
and development costs. In one year, Medisyn's research has
produced patent-pending compounds for breast, renal, prostate and
lung-cancer treatments. |
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Lee Jones,
CEO. Inlet Medical is a growth stage privately held
medical device company located in Eden Prairie, MN. The Company
develops and markets procedure-specific, laparoscopic surgical
instrument kits for pelvic reconstructive surgery in women. In
particular, Inlet’s target patient population are women of
reproductive age (ages 18-49) who are underserved by current medical
practice. There are about 70 million women in this age group in the
United States alone, and Inlet has developed and is marketing products
that can address the needs of over 3 million of these women, for a
total US market potential of over $2 billion. Inlet presents an
exciting value proposition for potential investors. The Company has:
(1) Clinically proven therapies, (2) Patented, FDA approved, and
reimbursed products, (3) Large market potential, (4) Growing revenues
and (5) Strong management team. |
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Wally Danielson, CEO.
Impres Medical is developing a new treatment for women with
heavier than normal periods called Deactivation. Deactivation is
designed to permanently stop menstrual bleeding and should be
effective in a very high percentage of patients. Over 16 million
women in the US alone, who are done having children, could benefit
from this treatment. Think of it as a way to achieve the benefits of
a hysterectomy without having surgery or taking drugs! This catheter
delivered technology can easily be performed in the physician’s
office, and should be well reimbursed. Human clinical studies and a
review of the literature indicated that deactivation of the lining of
the uterus is safe, effective, and has no other negative side
effects. The company has a strong IP position, excellent management
team, talented and active Board, and impressive investor base. We
have successful completed a $1.2 million Series A financing are now
looking to raise $8-10 million in Series B. |
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Samuel F. Straface, Ph.D., CEO.
Triton BioSystems is an early stage company developing a novel
cancer therapy that targets and selectively kills cancer cells using
heat without damaging neighboring healthy cells, unlike conventional
therapies such as radio- or chemotherapies. The therapy combines the
targeting capabilities of monoclonal antibodies with the controlled
radio frequency (RF) remote heating of magnetic particles. Our current
clinical focus is the most highly malignant forms of breast cancer as
an adjunct to surgery and drugs. We are investigating additional
clinical applications including treatment of other cancers, as well as
blood-borne pathogens (both bacterial and viral). |
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 Roald
Marth, CEO. WhereToLive develops web-based software
platforms for professionals within the real estate industry. Our
initial focus is residential real estate, which is comprised of
800,000 REALTORS©
generating 15 million residential listings annually through 100,000
offices. Our broker and agent products launched in the summer of
2001. We currently have 20 broker customers in 210 offices
representing over 6500 agents, which together will generate
approximately $350,000 in monthly recurring revenue by December of
2002. Profitability is set to occur in early 2003.
WhereToLive
enables real estate brokers and agents to engage in real-time real
estate through a suite of web-based productivity tools that empower
our customers to leverage the Internet for listing distribution, lead
generation, online marketing and contact management. The
WhereToLive.com Industry Portal aggregates the broker and agent
listings while also providing consumers with a web interface which is
highly intuitive and easy-to-use.
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Steven Lambros,
CEO. TelecomAccountant (TA) is a telecommunication asset
management and accounting service provider that helps companies reduce
their telecommunication cost (average of 23.2%) and then provides the
tools and services to maintain the cost savings and keep control of
this top five business expense. This business-to-business
company is an excellent example of the successful ASP model-a
hybrid -combining software with the best aspects of outsourcing,
very old-fashioned, back-office service functions. In addition to
having already written its proprietary software, TA has a small base
of satisfied customers. Far from being a "napkin idea," TA's founder
put his own resources into the business to prove the concept BEFORE
seeking capital. TA addresses a huge market--telecom spending
worldwide hit $1.8 trillion, the U.S. accounted for $609.2 billion of
that number. TA is a home-grown start-up with market acceptance. All
it requires now is capital to fully execute its business plan. |
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John Romans, CEO. Founded in
1997, BioMedix has developed proprietary medical devices and a
communication architecture that enable Primary Care Physicians (PCPs)
to detect Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD) through simple,
non-invasive tests in their own offices. By enabling clients to easily
transfer electronic patient data securely from various locations,
BioMedix systems allow specialists such as vascular surgeons and
cardiologists to interpret patient studies remotely, thereby
supporting local patient care without compromising the quality of
care. Since strong Medicare reimbursements are established for both
test generation and interpretation, PCPs and specialists are
encouraged to work together in a manner that improves patient care and
is financially attractive. Given the ease of use of the BioMedix
system and the medical importance of early PVD detection, BioMedix is
tapping into the enormous customer base of primary care providers that
currently do not actively participate in vascular testing. |
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Bill Drake,
CEO. Islet Technology was founded in 1994 to make
transplantation of insulin-producing islet cells a reality for the
millions suffering from insulin dependent (all Type 1 and select Type
2) diabetes. Positioned to be the leading supplier of
insulin-producing islet cells for transplantation, Islet Technology is
developing innovative islet isolation and encapsulation technologies.
Combining in-house expertise, proprietary innovations, exclusively
licensed technologies from the Universities of California and
Minnesota, and collaborations with leading scientists and engineers,
we are committed to restoring diabetics to normal health by islet
transplants. For more information, visit www.islet.com. |
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James Adam, President,
Blizzard Genomics.
The inception of the Company was based on providing
affordable cutting edge technology solutions to Researchers and
Clinicians in the field of Life Sciences. The Company is located in
St. Paul, MN, and was formed in December 1999 to develop proprietary
instrumentation, software and consumable supplies for the genomics and
proteomics market. The initial products are based on technologies
developed by the University of Minnesota DNA Chip Group. The Company’s
first product, the I-Scan™ chip reader, is in final development with
sales to begin in January 2003. The five-year plan requires $5 million
in new financing to support the effective product launch of the chip
reader and development and launch of the hybridization station and DNA
chip. Proceeds from new financing will be used to continue
development and manufacturing of its initial products, to fill key
management positions, to build corporate infrastructure and to bring
the Company to profitability. |
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Kevin Sundquist, CEO.
MR Instruments
is a revenue generating company that is
commercializing the next generation imaging coils in the $3B MRI
market with 5 patents and trade secrets from world-class scientists.
Our priority technology can improve the image quality and lower the
cost of every new MRI system. The plug and play compatibility of this
new technology means even old MRI systems can use it. We are first to
market in the new, higher field strength magnets that are leading MRI
research. Trade secrets keep the technology secure.
Our long-term strategy is to manufacture the next
generation of MRI systems by applying the technology with strategic
partners such as Siemens, GE, Varian and others.
World-class
researchers continue to advance the technology at the Center for
Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota. Combine this
with an MRI market and medical device experienced management team and
you have MR Instruments, Inc. |
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Donald Roepke, CEO.
Datacom International develops, markets and supports enterprise (ECM)
application software consisting of integrated ERP, SFA-CRM-CTO, and
SCM applications that are browser-based, allowing them to be either
Internet or Intranet hosted. AMR Research projects the ECM market to
grow to over $250 Billion by 2005, with the fastest growing subset
being Datacom’s target market of small to mid-size manufacturers. It
is expected that sales of ECM products to this market segment will
reach $25 Billion by 2005. With a proven record of growing businesses
to revenue levels that far exceed those projected in Datacom’s plans,
the strength and experience of its management team distinguish this
company. With Founder & Stage 1 funding to date of $2.7 Million,
the company seeks $1,000,000 to support market expansion of its
web-enabled ECM applications and further expansion of the Datacom ECM
product model. With this funding Datacom projects profitability
within 9 months of funding, 2003
revenue of $6.1M; EBITDA of 1.8M and
2005 revenue of $37 Million. Further
funding of up to $3M in 2003 would accelerate and expand these
projections by defined magnitudes. |
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Dan Vatland, CEO.
Verscient Technologies' first offering, Converser, combines
voice and data services to streamline the traditional dictation
process used by professional industries such as the medical and legal
fields. In addition, the Converser Recording Center (CRC) provides
recording capabilities through mobile Personal Digital Assistants
(PDA), personal computers (PC) or standard telephony systems, allowing
users to non-intrusively record, log, store and manage voice content.
Converser will allow users the ability to access verbal records and
easily convert them to a digital word processing format. This product
will leverage the rapid shift in the workplace from manual to digital
record storage. Converser will earn a revenue stream from monthly
ongoing service contracts and expand into CRC equipment installed at
customer sites. Verscient’s proprietary software will be attractive to
major telcom providers. |
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Scott Theile, CEO.
HIPAAnswers brings web-based tools to bear on an $8.4 billion
market opportunity within a highly fragmented segment of the health
care industry. HIPAAnswers is a software solutions company with a
five year track record and established clientele. Just as West Law
leads the market in legal research and Intuit’s Turbotax sets the
standard in tax preparation software, HIPAAnswers intends to become
the leading software company to solve healthcare regulatory pain. The
small to mid-sized healthcare entity does not have the resources to
comply with a myriad of burdensome and unfunded government
regulations. The company uses its HIPAA compliance best practices and
technology focus to create HIPAAnswers software. Because of the large
market opportunity and 5+ years of regulatory deadlines looming in
immediate future, the company is now seeking outside investment for
the first time. Gross margins are over 80% and the national scale-up
of the sales organization will be rapid. |
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Travis Smith, President. Appolis
is a software company. Appolis is an eBusiness solutions company
specializing in avoiding unnecessary application development costs by
providing a completed application framework for the web. Our Essential
Element 2.0 (EE) product is an enterprise e-business solution that
tightly integrates distributed content management, staged content
delivery, site development and management, and personalization. EE
helps you "Control Your World", by allowing just one, or an unlimited
number of web sites to be managed through a web browser. |
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Kurt Steinbergs, CFO.
EnviroScrub licenses the Pahlman Process ™,
a proprietary multi-pollutant control (MPC) technology that removes
99% of NOX gases and 99% of SOX gases from the
gaseous emissions of power plants, industrial boilers, and oil
refineries. The Pahlman Process™
(1) removes pollutants more effectively than competitors,
yields marketable industrial
by-products (nitrates and sulfates), uses no hazardous materials and
generates no contaminated end-products, has lower Capital Costs than
either NOX removal via Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) or SO2
removal via wet Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD); Has lower Operating
Costs than either SCR NOX removal or wet FGD SO2 removal. |
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Beverly Waldorf, CEO, Hurderos.
The future of the IT industry is services -- whether Web services,
grid- or cluster-based computing services, outsourced/hosted
services, or others. Critical to that future is the management of
digital identities and the service rights associated with each
identity. Hurderos, Inc. has developed infrastructure
software to enable such identity and service management. The
company’s flagship product, DISAME – Digital Identity, Services,
& Authorization Management Environment, enables enterprises to
manage all IT users (internal, external, partners, etc.) as
anonymous digital identities, and securely deliver them the services
for which they have been authorized. The company’s patented
KeyFusionTM authorization technology ensures secure
service delivery and simultaneously prevents service theft by
unauthorized users. All these capabilities are encompassed in a
comprehensive architecture that builds on the existing industry
standards of LDAP, Kerberos, XML and others, enabling
straightforward and rapid integration into existing IT
environments.
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Mark Ahlstrom, CEO.
Founded in 1989, SSESCO is a leading provider of products and
services to the environmental and meteorological markets. The
company's products, which include WxPortal and Environmental WorkBench,
involve breakthrough technology designed to analyze, create, deliver,
and interact with environmental and meteorological data. By providing
compelling visual display of 3D environmental analysis and
location-specific meteorological forecasts, SSESCO technology allows
customers to rapidly integrate data from many different formats, time
scales, and sources to make better and faster business decisions. The
company's clients include Boeing's Autometric division, NASA, the
United States Air Force, and others. For product information, see
www.wxportal.com,
or visit the company on the web at
www.ssesco.com. |
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Joe Mooney, CEO,
DebtAssessment. Bricks not Clicks. Cross marketing
products has emerged as the single most important goal of medium and
large financial institutions. They see billions of dollars of
opportunities or low hanging fruit if they can successfully cross
market their expanding product lines. DebtAssessment™ is an
interactive online system that enables financial institutions to
increase sales by enhancing existing online marketing efforts. The
decision to go into the rapidly growing online market has been made
and institutions want to get more customers at lower costs using
clicks while spending less money on bricks and human resources.
DebtAssessment™ is a unique approach with a customer centric
solution benefiting the financial industry unlike CRM tools,
calculators and personal finance software. DebtAssessment™ is in
operation, on the market, generating revenues. The need today is to
reach a broader national market quickly. Development costs have been
paid. Costs to launch the product and the current and future
operating costs are minimal. Our strategic sales plan is to form
alliances and partnerships to sell our products. Our management team
is experienced at building new companies and shareholder value.
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Dr. Kevin Mayo, PhD, Founder and
Marc Paulson, MBA, Consultant,
ActiPep Biotechnology (winners of
the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management's Annual
Business Plan Competition).
ActiPep Biotechnology Inc. is a
startup biopharmaceutical company designing peptides to treat human
diseases. ActiPep’s premier product, AngiNEXTM is a potent
anti-angiogenic agent that works by cutting off the blood flow to the
cancer tumor. AngiNEX has numerous competitive advantages like
site-specific therapy, promotion of white blood cell infiltration to
the tumor, and ease of synthesis. A small- molecule version of is
being developed and has the potential to become a one-step cancer
treatment. ActiPep has a platform technology that enables it to
develop other biopharmaceuticals, including an antibacterial agent
capable of killing drug resistant bacteria. To invest or learn more
about ActiPep, e-mail Brian Jackson, CEO, at 952-471-3336 or actipep@aol.com. |
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Gregory Freitag,
CEO, HTS BioSystems. HTS has identified and assembled
proprietary detection technologies and strategic partnerships to
create its PROTEOMATRIXTM Portfolio. From the Proteomatrix
Portfolio HTS is integrating technologies and products to provide
solutions to the Proteomics research market. The first product from
this Portfolio is the FLEX CHIP Kinetic Analysis System, a label-free
detection system that will be used in biotechnology research to
discovery new drugs and diagnostic tests. Phase III of the companies
business plan has been completed as HTS is preparing the FLEX CHIP for
market launch with its distribution partners Applied Biosystems, Inc.
(“AB”) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (“MCC”).
Gregory Freitag was founder of HTS and was
its president until becoming CEO. He has been a Director of the
Company since its inception and was appointed CEO in March 2001. He
was Chief Operating Officer of Quantech Ltd. from June 1997 and Chief
Financial Officer and Secretary of Quantech from December 1995 until
becoming CEO of HTS in March 2001. From 1987 until joining Quantech,
Mr. Freitag was a lawyer with the Minneapolis, Minnesota law firm of
Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. |
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