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Vol. 7/October-November 2011 Ventures ™ / A bi-monthly publication of the Florida Venture Forum, Inc., a non-profit organization
TAMPA, FL. – (October 12,2011)– The Florida Venture Forum is calling for participating sponsors and outstanding private companies in all industries from the state of Florida interested in applying to be presenters at its 21st Annual Florida Venture Capital Conference, to be held January 31 through Feb 1, 2012 at the Naples Grande Beach Resort in Naples, Florida.
The principal purpose of the Annual Conference is to showcase approximately 20 – 25 later stage, high growth private companies before an international audience of venture capitalists, private equity investors and investment bankers. These entrepreneurial companies should have talented management teams, proprietary technology and high growth potential. Although presenters are typically seeking later stage funding, they are encouraged to present at the Conference even if they are not seeking funding, so they can showcase their company for marketing purposes. The selected presenters are not only profiled before an international venture capital audience, they also receive substantial and valuable education in areas such as business plan writing, public speaking (and “pitching”) and venture capital negotiations.
The presenters of the last 20 Florida Venture Capital Conferences have been very successful from a funding standpoint, raising a total of $2.5 billion to date. Approximately 800 people attended the 2011 Conference, of which 200 were venture capital firms from across the U.S., Europe and South America representing billions of dollars to invest in Florida. The Florida Venture Capital Conference has become a “must attend” networking opportunity for venture capitalists and other investors interested in emerging Florida businesses.
Companies wishing to submit an application to present at the Conference must apply online at http://apply.flvencap.org (Note: Right click on your mouse and select open hyperlink then create a log-in I.D. and password and use Internet Explorer as your browser) by the early deadline of Friday, November 11, 2011. Please note the final deadline is Friday, December 30, 2011. The Florida Venture Forum does not accept hard copy submissions. These applications will be reviewed by a selection committee comprised of venture capitalists and private equity investors. As part of its continued efforts to extend its outreach throughout Florida and the southeastern U.S., officials with the Florida Venture Forum are working to develop an effective entrepreneurial network to assist with sourcing and ongoing support of high growth companies.
Sponsorship Levels range from the Sustaining Level at $3,500 to a Platinum Sponsor at $12,000. Companies wishing to be a Sponsor at the Conference can view sponsorship levels on the website at www.floridaventureforum.org or contact the Florida Venture Forum directly.
Interested participants should log onto the website or call 813-335-8116 for more details.
The Florida Venture Forum will be co-hosting with the Gulf Coast Venture Forum on October 25, 2011 at the Naples Grande in Naples, Florida from 5:30PM -8:00PM. “The Outlook for Venture Capital Investing Both Regionally and Locally” with featured speaker, Mark Heesen, President of the NVCA. Registration is available online at http://www.floridaventureforum.org .
The Inaugural Business Plan Competition and 4th Annual Early Stage Conference was held on October 5, 2011 at the Reunion Resort in Orlando. A record number of entrepreneurs presented to investors, venture capitalists and others. Mark Slaughter, CEO of Collaborative Bioscience, representing the University of Miami was this year’s business plan winner. Ace Glenn, with CourseMob , representing the University of Central Florida, was first runner-up. The winner, Mark Slaughter, commented, "I have been a part of the healthcare technology market for the past several years where I saw many incredible technologies come to market and not get the adoption they should have because of their high manufacturing costs. At the same time, I saw hospitals equipping their facilities with expensive technology that was being drastically underutilized. My cofounder Michael Slocombe and I have developed a surgical equipment logistics platform that enables hospital systems to reduce their capital expenditures and maximize their assets efficiency.
Winning the Florida Venture Forum's competition was further validation of our concept's ability to be able to go to market and be profitable. The competition gave us the chance to pitch our idea to the investment community, which saw the immense potential our service has to scale nationally and globally. We have several dozen hospitals intent on implementing our service over the next few months, getting financial backing from a local Miami Venture Capital or Angel fund is critical to our success.
Traditionally, the Miami startup investment scene has been sparse, but as of late it is experiencing resurgence. There are a lot of successful people in the entrepreneur scene that are tired of having to go through New York, Silicon Valley, and Boston. We need investment in and from our own community coupled with the capital needed to spur innovation. We hope to be one of the first companies to really help give this movement some momentum."
-Mark Slaughter, Chief Executive Officer
Collaborative Bioscience
Michael Slocombe, Mark Slaughter, Collaborative Bioscience/ Pat Schneider, Florida Venture Forum/
William Silverman, The Launch Pad- University of Miami
The winner of the Early Stage Conference, who will be presenting at the Venture Capital Conference in 2012 is Dr. Jeffrey Bonar with Jumpstart Wireless.
JumpStart Wireless Corporation, (www.jumpstartwireless.com), provides custom business mobile apps without custom programming. Using revolutionary patented artificial intelligence technology, we deliver mission-critical mobile apps, for 1/10th the effort of conventional mobile app development, without programming, running securely on any mobile device. Existing customers include Toyota, Ecolab, and Fluor as well as government agencies, in industries including field service, facility management, construction, and healthcare. With existing deployments, JumpStart is currently executing over 600,000 mobile transactions per month on behalf of our customers. JumpStart is transforming the ease-of-use, return-on-investment, and affordability of business mobile software.
 
Jonathan Cole, with Edwards Wildman and Palmer announcing the Early Stage winner at the Early Stage Conference. Dr. Jeffrey Bonar, CEO of JumpStart Wireless, pictured above.
H.I.G. Capital Raises $500 Million Growth Equity Fund
H.I.G. Capital, LLC, announced that it has successfully closed H.I.G. Growth Equity Fund II, L.P. (the “Fund”). The Fund held its final closing on June 30, 2011 with total aggregate commitments at its $500 million cap. The Fund will make private equity investments in strong, growth oriented small-capitalization businesses located throughout North America and Europe.
The Fund will invest in a wide range of industries with a focus on certain growth verticals in market sectors where H.I.G. has extensive experience and resources including business services, healthcare, tech-enabled businesses, interactive media and industrial technology.
H.I.G. Capital is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $8.5 billion of equity capital under management that specializes in acquisitions and recapitalizations of small and middle-market businesses. Based in Miami, and with offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, and New York in the U.S., as well as affiliate offices in London, Hamburg and Paris in Europe, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to companies with attractive growth potential. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. Capital has been one of the most active investment firms in the middle market, completing more than 200 transactions and currently managing a portfolio of more than 50 companies world-wide with combined revenues in excess of $8 billion. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well managed service or manufacturing businesses. H.I.G. also has extensive experience with financial restructurings and operational turnarounds. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
The Florida Venture Forum, Inc. is Florida’s premier statewide support group for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneurial networking group, the Florida Venture Forum educates entrepreneurs and assists them in identifying sources of venture capital.
BRINGING TOGETHER FLORIDA’S ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITY
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