2008 “Deals
Made” as listed in eVestor
* denotes WAN investor-member
January
Cellectar, $13 million by Venture Investors*, Advantage Capital, multiple angel networks
and individuals
TrafficCast International, $1.5 million by Ceres Venture Fund, NEW Capital Fund*,
Phenomenelle Angels Fund*, and Women Angels*
Other Investment News:
Centrose was awarded a $190,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Nerites was awarded a $100,000 SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Orion Energy Systems (Nasdaq: OESX) raised $78.8 million through an IPO.
Madison Development Corp.* raised $2.2 million for its Venture-Debt fund.
Baird Private Equity* raised $300 million for its BCPIV fund in 2007.
February
NeuWave Medical, $4.5 million by Venture Investors* and individual angels
Nerites, $5.7 million by Venture Investors* and Black Mountain Ventures
Centrose, $1.3 million by individual investors through Pavek Investments
Comic Wonder, $750,000 by Phenomenelle Angels*, Wisconsin Women Angels* and
Other Investment News:
Sway, Inc. of Middleton was acquired for $30 million,
March
eContractorBids.com, $200,000 by Origin Investment Group*
Other Investment News:
EMSystem LLC completed a MBO last fall providing a very nice exit for initial investors from the Marquette Golden Angels Network*
Atometric, Inc. of
NovaShield of Madison received a $500,000 grant from the NSF.
Spire Capital Advisors is a new M&A firm in
April
No public deals
reported.
Other Investment News:
Capital Midwest Fund launched with $5 million in capital.
Spectrocon received a $2.1 million NIH grant.
Virent Energy Systems and Shell announced a joint R&D effort.
Analogix of Burlington announced it was sold to Varian Inc. for $11 million in cash.
Coating Excellence International of Wrightstown was purchased by Mason Wells, Prudential Capital and management.
May
FluGen, $2.2 million by individual angels
Tissue Regeneration Systems Inc., $2 million by Venture Investors* and others
Spaulding Clinical Research, $1.7 million by Successful Entrepreneur Investors*
Silatronix, $500,000 by Venture Investors*
Other Investment News:
U.S. Trailmaps and the BPC were covered in Entrepreneur magazine.
Split Rock Partners of Minnesota raised a $300 million fund.
June
Mithridion, $2.2 million by Venture Investors*, Wisconsin Investment Partners* and SWIB
Other Investment News:
Third Wave Technologies Inc. acquired by Hologic Inc. for $580 million.
GWC Technologies obtains exclusive license from WARF.
July
Health Innovation Technologies, Inc., $200,000 by MDC Venture Debt Fund*
Other Investment News:
Mirius is being acquired by Roche for $125 million.
Fiserv sold 51% of Fiserv Insurance Solutions for $510 million.
GTI Diagnostics sold a majority stake to a Ohio-based fund.
TomoTherapy in acquisition talks with Japanese distributor.
Virent Energy Systems mentioned in the Economist.
Rexnord Holdings Inc. filed for an IPO.
COSS of Mequon is merging with iPipeline.
Roadrunner Transportation Services filed for an IPO,
August
NanoMedex received an undisclosed amount from Kegonsa Partners.*
AquaSensors, a Silicon Pastures* portfolio company, was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific for an undisclosed amount.
Other News:
SWIB commits $40 million to alternative investments.
Kegonsa Partners and the
Wis. Dept. of Commerce teamed up to bring a
UW-Madison team of researchers led by James Thomson received a $8.9 million stem cell grant.
TomoTherapy received FDA 501(k) clearance for its new TomoDirect technology.
Eighty-five
September
Rapid Diagnostek, $1.25 million from individual angels, NEW Capital Fund* and others.
Idle Free Systems, Inc, $600,000 from Kegonsa Capital Partners.*
Composite Rebar Technologies, $100,000 from individual investors.
*WAN Investor-member
Other News:
Primorigen Biosciences received a $360,000 grant from the NIH.
Enable IPC acquires controlling interest in SolRayo, read more.
$22 million in defense contracts were recently announced:
DRS Technologies, $7.6 million for warship motor and drive systems.
Modine Manufacturing Co., $2.4 million for cooling/heating advanced tactical vehicles.
PPG Industries, $2.4 million for electro-deposited coating systems.
Astronautics, Inc., $2.4 million for magnetic refrigeration technology.
Shoreland Inc., $2.4 million for enhanced medical situational awareness research.
UW-Milwaukee, $2.4 million for advanced manufacture of lightweight materials.
C&D Technologies, $800,000 for a large format lithium-ion battery.
October
PDM Solar, $250,000 from individual investors.
The Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund (WEIF) announced several awards:
Virent Energy Systems won a $500,000 grant and received a $500,000 loan.
Eaton Corp. and ZBB Energy Corp. won a $229,000 grant.
Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions won a $500,000 grant.
C&D Technologies Inc. received a $500,000 loan.
Energenecs Inc. received a $313,000 loan.
Paradigm Sensors, LLC received a $150,000 loan.
Other News:
Quintessence Biosciences, Inc. won a $170,000 SBIR grant, read more.
Swallow Solutions, LLC received a $113,000 Technology Venture Fund loan.
Delta Communications Inc. was acquired by Avtex Solutions LLC.
Magnetek, Inc. sold its telecom power systems business to Myers Power Products Inc.
MSOE recently licensed its first patent, read more.
November
Cellular Dynamics International, Inc., $18 million from Tactics II Stem Cell
Ventures LP, Tactics II Ventures LP and WARF.
Alice.com, $4.2 million from Kegonsa Capital*, DaneVest Tech Fund* and
individual investors. Read more.
Perscitus Biosciences, LLC, $115,000 from individual investors.
Other News:
Perscitus Biosciences, LLC won a $110,000 SBIR grant from NCI.
ConjuGon, Inc. awarded $2.4 million by the Defense Department, read more.
FluGen, Inc. received a $250,000 loan from the state, read more.
Baird Capital Partners is launching a new fund, read more.
December
Sologear raised $2 million from individual investors.
Other News:
Shiloh
Laboratories LLC received a $50,000 grant from
Quintessence Biosciences Inc. cleared by FDA for human trials, read more.
Associated Bank leads state in SBA loans, read more.
Eric Apfelbach, formerly from Virent, featured in Janesville Gazette, read article.
Virent Energy Systems named one of "The 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy," read more.
OCA Ventures raises $50.1 million, read more.