Archive for category: BrightStar News

BrightStar Announces Receipt of Capital Catalyst Grant

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.

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BrightStar’s 2019 Annual Report

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.

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BrightStar Announces Two New Investments “Give Me Liberty” Receives Acclaim and Awards

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.

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Brightstar concludes Hatch program with three Regional Finales!

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.”

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Tom Shannon, Mastermind Of Job Growth and Early Stage Companies

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

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BrightStar Wisconsin Announces Fall 2019 Hatch Events

MILWAUKEE, October 2, 2019 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Inc. launched the Hatch entrepreneurial pitch program in 2017 in the central part of the state. That successful launch allowed BrightStar to expand the program in 2018 and 2019. Hatch is a rotating, high-energy idea pitch program designed to facilitate connections between prospective entrepreneurs and those within a community who support them such as industry experts, professional service firms, banks, non-profits, business leaders and investors. BrightStar funds these events with the help of a matching grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the support of local donations and sponsorships.

This year BrightStar is having three regional Hatch finales and multiple local sub-regional Hatch events. The entrepreneurs that move on to the Hatch regional finales will have five minutes to pitch in front of a panel of judges and a live audience for the chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. The events are free and open to the public, but you are requested to register to attend.
The Chippewa Valley Hatch Regional Finale is October 17th at Cowboy Jack’s Saloon, 1432 Front Porch Place in Altoona. The program starts at 6:00pm and will last about two hours. It is still not too late to apply to pitch, but time is running out. For more information contact the Chippewa County EDC at      715-723-7150 or via email at info@chippewa-wi.com.

The Central Wisconsin Hatch Regional Finale is November 13th at the Noel Car Barn, 1995 River Bend Road in Plover. The program starts at 6:00pm and will end around 8:30pm. This event is also still accepting pitch applications. Please go to www.Tinyurl.com/hatch2019 to find the application form and the judging criteria. To register to attend, go to www.portagecountybiz.com; then click on the “Events” link.

The New North Hatch program will feature four sub-regional qualifying events and a regional finale. In preparation of the regional event, New North is working with its local partners to host various qualifying local events. The deadline to upload your pitch idea is November 1st so go to www.thestartuphub.org/pitch and select the one registration link that is closest to you. Below are the details for these events:

The Greater Green Bay Chamber Hatch event, The Audible, will be November 12th from 4:30 to 6:30pm at the Urban Hub, 340 N. Broadway Street in Green Bay. There will be a special event to announce the winners on November 14that The Shindig. For additional information please contact Ron Franklin at rfranklin@greatergbc.org.

The Appleton Hatch event, Fast Pitch, will be November 12th from 5:00 to 8pm at the Fox Club Room at Fox Cities Stadium, 2400 N. Casaloma Drive in Appleton. For additional information please contact Amy Pietsch at pietsch@fvtc.edu.

The Sheboygan County Hatch event will be November 14th from 4:30 to 6:30pm at Mily Barn at Nourish, 100 Alfred Miley Avenue in Sheboygan Falls. For additional information please contact Ray York at york@sheboygancountyedc.com.

The Marinette Hatch event, Invent Your North, is a collaboration with Florence, Marinette and Oconto Counties. It will be held on November 14th from 6:00 to 8:00pm at the Wisconsin Maritime Center of Excellence, 1320 Main Street in Marinette. For additional information please contact Robert Pontius at operations@inventurenorth.com.

The top two finishers at the four New North sub-regional events will pitch at the New North Hatch Regional Finale on December 5th in Green Bay at a part of the New North Summit. For more information on the Summit go tohttps://newnorthsummit.com/.

In addition to these New North Hatch events, UW-Green Bay and UW-Oshkosh have been active in the planning of these New North events and separately will be hosting pitch contests for their students’ participation.

For questions regarding BrightStar Wisconsin, contact Fred Raasch at fraasch@brightstarwi.org.

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BrightStar Wisconsin invests in a Milwaukee film

MILWAUKEE, August 7, 2019- Brightstar Wisconsin Foundation announced its recent investment in “Give Me Liberty”, 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 is only the fourth film ever to be invited to both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals.

The $20,000 investment also marks the first time that BrightStar has deployed capital in an investment opportunity other than tech-based startup companies. “It’s about job creation as well as attracting and developing talent,” said Tom Shannon, the Foundation’s President. “This is a concept we have been exploring for some time as other states have successfully leveraged film to build a newly found space in which to create jobs.”

Hopefully this test investment leads to a new dynamic 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. This would be in addition and a complement to BrightStar’s current Wisconsin focused angel and venture investing activities.

“Give Me Liberty” debuts in Milwaukee on August 22nd at the Oriental Theater. The Thursday evening premiere is already sold out, but there will be additional showings at the Oriental on Friday and Saturday, and then the following week at select Marcus Cinemas.

To view the official movie trailer, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR8nVCExVo4.
For opening weekend tickets, go to: https://mkefilm.org/oriental-theatre/events/give-me-liberty-premiere-screening.

For questions regarding BrightStar Wisconsin, contact Fred Raasch at fraasch@brightstarwi.org.

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BrightStar Wisconsin Announces Three New Investments

MILWAUKEE, July 9, 2019 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc. today announced that it has completed investments in three Wisconsin early-stage companies. They bring to 52 the number of BrightStar investments in Wisconsin companies since its founding.

Arbré Technologies, Inc. ($100,000) provides horticulture-based businesses with innovative software and radio-frequency identification (RFID) solutions that solve inventory efficiency, visibility, and traceability challenges. The company’s products seamlessly connect the vertical supply chain by integrating software, hardware and other best-of-breed systems. These systems harvest precise data that help businesses become more predictive and make better decisions. Arbre’s research and development efforts continue to be focused on developing technologies that help horticulture-based businesses serve their customers and grow as efficiently as possible.

“I am excited to have partnered with the Winnebago Seed Fund and Brightstar Wisconsin on this round,” said Benjamin Meyers, vice president of Arbre Tech. “Because Arbre Tech was a winner in a BrightStar Hatch pitch event, it felt natural for us to work with Wisconsin-backed funds whose goal is to help Wisconsin companies like Arbre Tech to grow and succeed.”

AssuredLeads, Inc. ($100,000) increases sales for commercial insurance agents, brokers and carriers. Its SaaS platform provides sales leads, training resources, communication tools, data analytics and an intuitive CRM. These products are sold through their proprietary software marketplace.

“We’re excited to bring on BrightStar as an investor and partner of AssuredLeads,” said Travis Batiza, AssuredLeads’ CEO. “BrightStar’s investment will enable us to execute a hiring plan that will further accelerate our growth. We look forward to working with such a dynamic organization, which shares our commitment to creating jobs in Wisconsin.” AssuredLeads cloud-based platform offers a customizable dashboard that provides easy-to-view snapshots of new leads, CRM tools and reports. It allows users to streamline the sales and underwriting process and gather data insights into marketing effectiveness, and agent performance and engagement.

Curate Solutions, Inc. ($50,000) provides a vital resource to businesses and associations that are affected by the decisions of municipal governments like cities, towns, villages and school districts. There are approximately 89,000 of these and other municipalities in the United States that exercise their decision-making authority, implement decisions and announce opportunities for bids and requests for proposals daily.

Curate’s document-reading technology scan through hundreds of thousands of agendas and minutes from local meetings like plan commission meetings each week and sends its customers only the relevant snippets of discussion — like proposed or approved ordinances, policies or rezoning applications — straight to their inbox.

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BrightStar Wisconsin Announces Two New Investments

MILWAUKEE, June 5, 2019 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc. today announced that it has made an investment in two companies that are new to its portfolio: HDL Diagnostics, Inc. and FreshEx Corp., Pleasant Prairie. These investments bring to 48 the number of early-stage Wisconsin companies in which BrightStar has invested.

HDL Diagnostics is a Milwaukee biotechnology company focused on providing the first scalable high-density lipoprotein or HDL function test. HDL is commonly known as the “good cholesterol.” Recent research has established that HDL function testing outperforms HDL-Cholesterol (HDL-C), which simply determines the level of HDL in blood, for predicting heart attacks. HDL function testing measures whether and to what extent the good cholesterol is removing bad cholesterol, or LDL, from the artery walls.

“Testing HDL’s functional status has been available to scientists for years as a research-use-only test, but because of its complexity it is not been used at the point of care,” said board member Matt Amman. “We believe we can change that and improve the ability of physicians to diagnose coronary artery disease with our technology platform.”

Brightstar’s $75,000 investment helped the company complete its second round of funding and start its first clinical trial. The company also recruited Roger Newton, Ph.D., who is the co-discoverer of Lipitor, to join the company’s board of directors.

FreshEx Corp., Pleasant Prairie, has been developing a solution to extend the shelf life of foods like breads, berries and cheeses that are highly susceptible to mold. The company estimates that the global opportunity for extending the shelf life of these products, even by several days, is in the hundreds of million dollars.

Co-founders Toby Thomas and William Belias each have more than 30 years of product development and go-to-market successes. They were instrumental in the development of scented Hefty garbage bags and Hefty OneZip food storage bags.

FreshEx was discovered at a Hatch event, BrightStar’s entrepreneurial pitch program.

 

“My experience with BrightStar has been terrific,” said FreshEx CEO Toby Thomas. “From my first pitch through to funding my venture, BrightStar has been very supportive.”

 

BrightStar’s $100,000 investment is the first awarded to a Hatch program participant. The rest of the investors in this $1.3 million round came from investment groups outside of Wisconsin. The most interesting group in this round is Village Global, an early-stage venture capital group funded by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.

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Amira Learning selected as the winner of the Central Wisconsin Hatch Regional Finale

MILWAUKEE, Nov. 12, 2018 – Area entrepreneur Pete Jungwirth of Wisconsin Rapids took home the top prize at the Central Wisconsin Hatch Regional Finale Wednesday night held at the Noel Car Barn, earning $5,000 for his company, Amira Learning. The company uses artificial intelligence technology to help teachers assess students’ reading levels and improve their skills individually, based on specific areas where they need help.

The HATCH Finale was attended by a crowd of nearly 250 people who watched six area entrepreneurs pitch their business to judges and vote for their favorite. During the award presentations at the end of the evening,  Fred Raasch of BrightStar incorrectly announced that Siren Shrub was the winner of the People’s Choice Award, determined by a popular vote of those attending.  The correct recipient of the People’s Choice Award and $500 cash prize was Michael More and his product, The Scape, while Siren Shrub earned the BrightStar Entrepreneur Award and a $500 cash prize.

The Scape is a unique product that synchronizes aspects of mobiles, light projectors and sound machines to help babies and adults sleep.  More and The Scape product won the local Hatch event in Stevens Point to qualify for the finale.

Siren Shrub, a company run by Layne Cozzolino and Mindy McCord from Stevens Point, produce a line of concentrated sipping vinegars made from locally grown fruits and herbs. Siren Shrub presented in June at the Wisconsin Rapids Hatch event and were selected as one of the “Wild Card” presenters at the regional finale.

Area entrepreneur and philanthropist John Noel kicked off the event with some words of encouragement for the six finalists. “Regardless of what happens tonight, pursue your dreams with every ounce of your passion,” he said.  “And as your dreams become successful businesses, I encourage you to do what you can to give back and make the world better.”

HATCH is funded by BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation with the help of a matching grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and support from local sponsors for the finale that included the Judd S. Alexander Foundation, Compass Properties, Ruder Ware Law Firm, BMO Harris Bank and North Wind Renewable Energy.

The Central Wisconsin Hatch Regional Finale was hosted by Compass Properties and organized by BrightStar and the four organizations that hosted the preliminary local events; Portage County Business Council, Marshfield Chamber of Commerce, Entrepreneur and Education Center in Wausau and Mid-States Technical College – Wisconsin Rapids campus.

“Now in its second year, Hatch has become a good platform to connect early stage companies with a network of supporters,” said Thomas Shannon, BrightStar’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The success of Wisconsin start-up companies helps drive the state economy and create quality, sustainable jobs for the 21st Century.”

The other entrepreneurs who pitched their business ideas included:

  • Harald Tomesch from QikVin —  a reusable wine bottle that preserves wine and keeps it fresh, as well providing a stylish container for serving the wine.
  • Nick Coglianese from Key Collector Comics Mobile App — world’s first and only database and price guide that focuses exclusively on valuable, collector comic books.
  • Evan Schuelke from Flip’n Easy–a plastic measuring scoop and funnel that lets you use only one hand to scoop and pour powered mix into any bottle.

BrightStar also held Hatch Regional Finales in Eau Claire for the Chippewa Valley Hatch program and in Racine for the Racine & Kenosha County Hatch program.

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