two gems from the venture capital conference

From the Northeast Ohio Incubator Collaborativeblog:

"If you didn’t attend last week’s Ohio Venture Association’s Venture Capital Summit III last week at Corporate College East, you missed a great event. Panels included a conversation with leading Northeast Ohio angels, representatives of three VC firms that have recently set up shop in Northeast Ohio, and a panel on how to present to VC’s.

The last panel was especially interesting as Jerry Frantz, an EIR from JumpStart, was tapped to “present” to three area VC partners. The presentation was a real proposal for funding, courtesy of an area entrepreneur. What was interesting was that at any time during the presentation, you could yell “freeze” and ask any of the VCs a question. It was fascinating to hear what actually goes through their mind during one of these presentations."

want to see what they we thinking? read more here.

summary of 07 for NEO incubators

The Northeast Ohio Incubator Collaborative reviews the gains made by the 5 incubators in the region. This includes:

"YBI had a fantastic year, with explosive growth of the incubator leading to an expansion seen as a national model. It doesn’t hurt when you have a tenant that is the fastest growing software company in the nation! Throughout 2007, YBI . . ."

read more about all 5 here.

know thyself.

Bio VC up big time in NEO from last year

Venture capital firms triple investment in local bioscience industry
in the Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Health care startups in Northeast Ohio raised nearly three times as much money from venture capitalists last year as they did in 2006, according to a report by BioEnterprise, the region's bioscience company developer.

Companies in Greater Cleveland raised $241.8 million in venture capital last year compared with $87.9 million in the prior year."

To read more about the bio-economy of Ohio and the Midwest, go here.

news: 18 Dec 2007

Venture Capital Funds Look at Valley

“That’s one of the reasons we like what the Youngstown Business Incubator is doing with their focus, because they’re delivering products that have a clear customer demand and they’re able to get what we call the ‘voice of the customer’ involved early in the process,” he continued. “You’re not just developing a technology for technology’s sake. You’re really developing technology for the market that’s out there.”

You can read more about early stage funding in Youngstown here.


First Night Youngstown gets some much needed $

locals step up to fully fund the annual event after one of the past key sponsors pulled out.

Study Recommends NEOUCOM Expansion

"The final recommendation coming out of the North East Ohio Universities Collaboration and Study Commission calls for NEOUCOM to remain a free-standing medical school, albeit with expanded collaborative efforts with other institutions."

Lemon Grove Gets Grant

The Youngstown City Board of Control approved a $5,000 grant for the Lemon Grove LLC, a restaurant/lounge at 122 West Federal St.