BrightStar Wisconsin closed out 2021 with two December investments

BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Inc. is pleased to announce that its Investment Committee approved two additional investments totaling $310,000 at the end of 2021, Isomark Health and Blue Line Battery.

In both cases, BrightStar helped finish each company’s round of fundraising.  “What so many people do not realize is that speed and timing is almost as important to these early-stage companies as the capital itself,” said BrightStar’s Investment Committee Chair, Todd Sobotka.  “The quicker they can get the funds they need and then focus their attention on development or capturing market share, the better.  In helping get deals done faster, BrightStar plays a role in not only assisting Wisconsin entrepreneurs, but also Wisconsin investors that have committed funds.”

Madison based Isomark Health is commercializing a UW-Madison developed technology that allows for the pre-symptomatic detection of an infection from a simple exhaled breath.  The current target market is within animal health applications, with an initial focus on cattle/feedstock with future market potential far beyond this.

Blue Line Battery has developed the first modular and reliable lithium-ion battery technology for industrial purposes.  The company is located in Beloit and already has dozens of customers. “The speed and decision turnaround time from Brightstar gave Blue Line Battery the ability to close its Seed Round in a record timeframe” said Blue Line’s Head of Growth, Phil Fonfara.  BrightStar was able to bring in additional angel investors which secured the remaining portion of the round. Their commitment to our company exceeds that of a simple partnership, and Blue Line Battery is fortunate to have Brightstar Wisconsin on its cap table.”

12 local entrepreneurial pitch winners advance to Dec. 2 

NEW Launch Alliance regional pitch competition 

Local contest winners demonstrate variety of creative business ideas in New North region 

NEW NORTH, November 24, 2021 – Twelve entrepreneurial pitch winners who advanced from local pitch competitions hosted by a collaboration of several local partners will vie for additional prize money at a regional pitch competition hosted by New North Inc. The NEW Launch Alliance HATCH Event will take place on Thursday, December 2, at 5 p.m. at the Urban Hub, located at 340 North Broadway, Suite 200, in Green Bay. Participants will have a chance for broader investor attention, along with prize money of $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place.

The top winners will be invited to give an update to an even wider investor/business audience during the New North Summit, scheduled for June 9, 2022, at Lambeau Field.

“We were excited by the wide range of creative business ideas shown at these local pitch events,” says Barb LaMue, president and CEO of New North Inc. “It demonstrates the vibrancy of the entrepreneurial community across the New North region.”

Seven local partnering organizations hosted four different events during Startup Week in Wisconsin, November 15-19. First-place winners at the local level received $1,000 cash, while second-place finishers and judges’ choice designations were given $500 each.

In all, 32 entrepreneurial pitches were made during the local qualifying events. These events – Audible, Fast Pitch, LevelUp and Accelerate – were hosted by the Greater Green Bay Chamber, FVTC Venture Center, Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, Envision Greater Fond du Lac, Progress Lakeshore and Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp.

Details of the 12 companies that will advance are as follows: 

Alto Gear, presented by Benjamin Leibham: Outdoor products to store and protect ice climbers’ equipment, manufactured from repurposed billboard vinyl, making each wrap unique and saving vinyl from entering landfills.

AppEase, presented by Nicole Tilot: Automatically transfers electronic medical records between medical providers and insurance companies for the purpose of underwriting life, disability and long-term care insurance applications.

Blank Sheet Fabrications, presented by Mark Blank: Provisional patent for a custom tailgate handle for classic pickup trucks, which fits into the original and aftermarket tailgates while keeping the original look and function of the vehicle.

Blossom Baby, presented by Marissa Dyess: Offers sustainable baby clothing to save parents and grandparents time and money; expandable baby clothing caters to the growth of infants.

Brat Wave LLC, presented by Jesse Foster: Patent pending contoured cooking sheet for cooking the curves of a bratwurst.

Divorcist, presented by Elizabeth Paulson and Eliza Cussen: Online gift registry and community of support for those experiencing divorce and breakups.

Doggy Dupa Dog Leash, presented by Brian Jankowski: Patent-pending double leash solves the problems with walking two dogs with a double bungee leash that swivels and does not tangle because it is slack free, allowing dogs to independently roam up to 6 feet, cross under each other freely without tangle, with lead length changing as the dogs walk.

GoGuide, presented by Carter Brown: A software and platform that connects customers of guided trips to guides and instructors for a wide range of outdoor activities, creating a more personal booking experience by enabling customers to research, compare, communicate and book by guide rather than booking a faceless company and getting matched with a guide after the fact.

Homeschool Art Box, presented by Sarah Harmeling: Monthly subscription box which is an ‘open and go’ homeschool art curriculum. It includes a full art history lesson, art appreciation, and instructions and supplies to complete a related art project. Targeted for Grades 1-8, it completes the prep work for parents of research, gathering supplies and creating art projects.

INKBOX, presented by Bill Zimmermann: Secure, vandal-resistant and climate-controlled vending machine that dispenses best-selling printer ink cartridges, placed outside high-traffic locations in communities that are underserved by brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Sativa Building Systems, presented by Zachary Popp: Sustainable green-building materials with the Z Panel, a patented, hemp-based wall panel that is 100 percent breathable and non-toxic, as well as mod-, rot-, pest- and fire-resistant, in addition to being carbon negative.

The High Lift LLC, presented by Emilee Rysticken: A modern coffee shop and community gathering space, located in a former, renovated auto body shop in a rural community with a wide range of hours, ample seating, outdoor green space and a drive-thru for a place to relax, study and gather with friends.

“The qualifying pitch events would not have been possible without the support of our local partners,” LaMue adds. “Their input and collaboration have been invaluable to making a successful competition.”

Sponsorship has been provided by New North Inc., the BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation and Wisconsin Business Development (WBD).

While there is no charge to attend the event, registration is requested and available at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-norths-new-launch-alliance-pitch-ticket…

 

We, at Brightstar Wisconsin Foundation, are always looking to make investments in new Wisconsin companies. That is how we will continue to support Wisconsin entrepreneurs and early-stage business.

MILWAUKEE, October 6, 2021 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Inc. is pleased to announce that it’s Investment Committee has approved a $150,000 investment in University of Wisconsin licensed spin off company, Immuto Scientific, Inc. The three year old Madison firm has developed a process that  enables pharmaceutical companies to analyze biomolecules with unprecedented speed, resolution, and accuracy. This funding round will allow the founders, led by co-inventor Dr. Michael Sussman and CEO Faraz Choudhury, to scale up the needed equipment and manpower to provide commercial analytical research to already identified drug discovery customers.

“BrightStar’s Investment Committee was very impressed with the potential of Immuto, its management team, the IP protection and its technology,” said Jay Wigdale, BrightStar Investment Committee member and Lakefront Partners Founder. “Imagine how the drug pipeline can be accelerated and overall costs reduced when a molecule’s suitability for drug development can be determined in weeks vs a year or more.”

The technology was developed using $1.4M in non-dilutive funds via a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin labs of the Electrical Engineering and Biochemistry departments. BrightStar co-invested with Wisconsin Investment Partners, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Marquette Golden Angels, and the newly formed Milwaukee Venture Partners fund.

MILWAUKEE May 25, 2021— BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Inc. is pleased to announce its investment committee has approved three Wisconsin early-stage companies for investment. Pyran, Inc. of Madison will receive $150,000 investment. Cert-N, LLC of Green Bay and COnovate, Inc. of Milwaukee, will each receive $50,000 investments coming from BrightStar with assistance from WEDC’s Capital Catalyst program. WEDC matches BrightStar dollars to eligible startups targeting emerging growth companies supporting very early business creation.

Pyran was formed in the spring of 2018 by a chemical engineering team at UW-Madison, co-founders Dr. Kevin Barnett and Professor George Huber, who discovered a new chemical pathway to make materials out of corn cobs. The technology allows paint, coatings, adhesives and plastics companies to shift away from petroleum-based products to plant-based ones resulting in the same product but from an eco-friendly, abundant source that can also cut costs by 40%. The company has an exclusive license agreement for the patents with WARF, who also invested in this round.

Cert-N is a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform that helps Value Added Resellers simplify the tracking of Technology Provider OEM’s vendor loyalty programs and maximize the loyalty value dollars available.

COnovate is developing patented composite materials into commercial ready products for Lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes. With these new CophiteTM materials, battery performance will surpass current LIBs. COnovate is receiving its second BrightStar investment, which will help begin commercialization efforts for its unique CophiteTMmaterial. The first $50,000 investment enabled the purchase of new analytical equipment allowing for the development of CophiteTM.

MILWAUKEE, December 16, 2020 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc. today announced that its investment committee has approved two new investments in early-stage Wisconsin based companies: COnovate, Inc. and Retham Technologies, LLC. These investments bring to 57 the number of early-stage Wisconsin companies in which BrightStar has invested.

Both Milwaukee-based companies are receiving seed investments of $50,000 made possible through matching fund grants to BrightStar from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s Capital Catalyst program. Capital Catalyst funds are specifically designed to assist proof of principal stage companies to take that extra step needed to prove out their technology. For COnovate, the funds will help to show the ability to scale production for its novel room temperature solid form carbon monoxide compound that can be seamlessly adapted for use in lithium-ion batteries. For Retham it is to finish clinical studies needed to bridge the company to the point of beginning 510(k) activities for FDA clearance.

COnovate, Inc. founded in 2016 by UWM professors Carol Hirschmugl and Marija Gajdardziska, will use its newly discovered material named “Cophite” to boost a battery’s capacity and charging speed. The BrightStar funds will help bring the COnovate project out of the academic lab into a pre-commercial scale up process—leading to a Series A investment round next year.

“COnovate grew from deep expertise of UWM physicists and highlights the strength of UWM as a research institution and a source for innovations that can scale and impact the world.” said Brian Thompson, UWM Research Foundation President. “The company founders embraced the customer discovery process as a core competency to help them identify opportunities, and I’m pleased that they were able to leverage the growing support structure at UWM and in the Milwaukee community to move them to the next level.”

“Retham is a Milwaukee startup cofounded by Dr. Anand Padmanabhan, based on groundbreaking research he conducted when he was at Blood Center of Wisconsin,” said Daniel Sem, Retham’s acting CEO and Dean of Business at Concordia University. “The clinical diagnostic assay his team is developing provides more reliable results in less time (< 1 day vs. 3 days) than the current market-dominant test, and will prevent many deaths or amputations from this autoimmune reaction that nearly 1% of patients have to Heparin treatment. Retham expects its HITDx assay to be on the market and in clinical labs by 2023.”

MILWAUKEE, May 7, 2020 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Inc is pleased to announce it has been awarded a Capital Catalyst Grant (CCG) from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). The goal of the CCG program is to increase the availability of capital to startups and emerging growth companies to support their growth and attract additional private investment. WEDC does this by providing matching grants to seed funds like BrightStar and other eligible entities dedicated to stimulating entrepreneurship.

BrightStar will match the $300,000 award with its own funds to make up to $600,000 in grants or investments in innovative early stage businesses with the potential to create good jobs in Wisconsin. These funds will particularly target very early stage companies that have the greatest trouble attracting first investors due to little or no revenues. Returns on BrightStar investments come back to the foundation and are used assist additional companies and create a supportive environment for business creation and job development.

The grant complements BrightStar’s HATCH program initiatives whereby the foundation has held regional competitions for identifying new ideas and inventions. Many of these winners need smaller start-up capital in the $25,000 to $50,000 range and these funds, matched with BrightStar’s donor driven funding, will be able to assist these organizations with early investment.

“Brightstar is a valuable partner in supporting startup activity across Wisconsin and provides WEDC an important perspective as we develop programs and initiatives. They have a unique model that has generated interest from across the country and points to the creative and collaborative ways we solve problems in Wisconsin” commented Aaron Hagar, WEDC Vice President – Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Dear Friends of BrightStar,

We are pleased to announce that we have released our 2019 Annual Report. A digital version is attached below. It summarizes the organization’s investment and support activities for the year as well as highlighting our portfolio companies and Wisconsin job creation metrics. We enjoy pulling the positive actions and results of each year together and giving it some color and personality to keep all of our supporters up to speed, and feel this year’s report turned out exceptionally well.  Enjoy, and please contact us with any questions or additional interests you may have.

2019 BSW Annual Report

 

 

 

About the BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc.

BrightStar is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation created to facilitate job creation and increase Wisconsin’s economic activity by deploying donated funds into equity stakes in early-stage, rapid growth companies. This new approach will enable the formation of new investment capital in Wisconsin through charitable donations to the foundation. Contributions to BrightStar are tax deductible.

MILWAUKEE, March 4, 2020 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc. today announced that it has invested in two more Wisconsin based companies: Stem Pharm, Inc. and AgriCycle Global, Inc. These investments bring to 54 the number of early-stage Wisconsin companies in which BrightStar has invested.

Stem Pharm, Inc. is a Madison biotechnology company focused on creating adult stem cell derived neural organoids to evaluate drug treatments for neural diseases. Its unique in vitro models will explore new therapeutics for the most devastating central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, and brain cancers such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

AgriCycle Global, Inc. is a Milwaukee based vertically integrated company with a portfolio of ethically sourced and up-cycled consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands. Agricycle sells fully traceable, 100% natural, organic and hand-grown fruits from ancestral trees empowering over 35,000 rural farmers from across the world to help eliminate food waste and create economic opportunity. Agricycle has three main product lines. Jali Fruit Co. is a family of fun, tropical sun-dried fruit with no added ingredients. Tropicoal Ignition is better-for-everyone charcoal made with coconut shells, cassava and palm, which burns hotter and lasts longer than traditional charcoal. Thirdly, What the Fruit?! is a gluten-free alternative flour line made out of 100% fruit.

Joshua Shefner, Agricycle’s CEO and founder, studied structural engineering at Milwaukee School of Engineering. BrightStar discovered him at our 2018 Hatch event in Chippewa Fall and recommend him for the Global Student Entrepreneur pitch program. He won the regional event and was a semi-finalist at the national event, both firsts for someone from Wisconsin. That lead Agricycle to being accepted into an inaugural 15-week Target Incubator in Minneapolis that had more than 400 start-ups apply for only eight slots in the program.  Agricycle is now getting support from organizations around the world, including US Agency for International Development, the World Food Programme and the African Development Bank

Another recent BrightStar investment, “Give Me Liberty”, is a film that has now received acclaim from critics around the world. The freewheeling yet profound comedy was shot entirely in Milwaukee and was co-written, directed, and produced by individuals from the area.  It debuted in Milwaukee and went on to become only the fourth film ever to be invited to both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. It was also nominated for four Spirit Awards and won the John Cassavetes Award for the best independent movie with a budget under $500,000 in February 2020.

The $20,000 film investment marked the first time that BrightStar has deployed capital in an investment opportunity other than tech-based start-up companies. Hopefully this test investment leads to a new separate effort to leverage BrightStar’s unique model to help build the creative space ecosystem. Talent from this space has become essential over the past decade to fill new jobs in innovative large corporations, small businesses, and early-stage companies throughout the state. Investments in this space would expand on and complement BrightStar’s ongoing Wisconsin angel and venture investing mission.

MILWAUKEE, Dec. 18, 2019 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation’s “Hatch” program was originally created to be a one-year event in order to reward some of its northern Wisconsin donors by helping them to increase entrepreneurism and deal flow in their locales. Though outside of its core mission to fund early stage companies, the program was designed to give entrepreneurs outside of Wisconsin’s two major metro areas a platform to present business ideas to their community, business leaders, industry experts, banks, law firms, potential investors, and other organizations that support startup and early-stage companies. The entrepreneurs also compete for prize more to help start or expand their business.

Launched in 2017 with the cooperation of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and their Entrepreneurial Support matching grant program, the inaugural Hatch participation exceeded expectations. Therefore, BrightStar decided to extend the event for an additional two years in order to reach remaining outlying metro areas such as Sheboygan, Appleton, Green Bay, Marionette and Racine/Kenosha. This year the three regions involved held a total of nine events that included their individual regional finales, and BrightStar awarded a record total of more $33,000 in Hatch prize money in 2019.

The Central Wisconsin regional Hatch Finale included two WEDC territories known as Centergy and Grow North. They worked together and had a great event in Plover at the John Noel Car Barn. Michelle Goetsch from Kronenwetter took first place and won $5,000 with her idea ERbin, a software app that works to educate people on a city-by-city how recycle follow the local guidelines that community sets.

At the Chippewa Valley Hatch Finale in Altoona Jim McDougall’s from Eau Claire took first place and won $5,000. His business, UpStream, provides 100% wireless audiovisual solutions using proprietary software and hardware for businesses and homes.

The New North Hatch Regional Finale held December 5th in Green Bay closed out the Hatch program with close to 400 people in attendance…a record crowd for a Hatch event. Luke Haen from Kaukauna with his idea BAKKAB, a device that assists heavy equipment operators and truck drivers by alerting them of unseen hazards, walked away with the top prize of $5,000.

Over the last three years BrightStar has discovered numerous solid ideas at the Hatch events and has invested $100,000 each in two of these companies and are currently evaluating a third opportunity. “There was a real need to stimulate the entrepreneur eco-system in most parts of the state, and the Hatch program has proven to be a successful platform for doing just that,” said Fred Raasch, BrightStar’s Vice President and Hatch program director. “With the many dozens of civic leaders and support organization that have now participated in Hatch, I feel confident they will easily be able to continue and improve their own local programs using our template as a basis.”

Mike Malatesta is the founder, author & host of “How’d it Happen,” a podcast that explores the stories of successful people from all walks of life. In one of his recent podcasts he follows Tom Shannon, the founder and CEO of BrightStar Wisconsin in an episode called “Tom Shannon, Mastermind Of Job Growth and Early Stage Companies – Episode 51.”

Click on the link below to take a listen:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/howd-it-happen-podcast/id1441722417?i=1000449689776