TNInvestco finalists to be announced
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 1:56 pmFrom the State of Tennessee:
Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber and Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr have scheduled Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. Central time to announce the six venture capital fund finalists and two alternates for the TNInvestco program. The TNInvestco program was created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2009 and the commissioners of ECD and Revenue were charged with allocating $120 million dollars in gross premiums tax credits to the successful applicants in order to leverage private investment in early stage and mid stage capital investment programs. The aim of the program is to attract capital to Tennessee companies and create jobs in the process.
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Local investors look to fill bank credit gap with $100M fund
Posted on October 13, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Nashville-based Claritas Capital has begun raising up to $100 million for a mezzanine fund that would commit between $3 million and $15 million to health care and business services companies left without capital-raising options. A team led by Morgan Keegan alum Bruton Harvey will lend based on enterprise value and charge double-digit interest rates.
Claritas is aiming at health care-services and business-services companies with $2 million to $10 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Banks have fled that market since the meltdown, and Claritas is betting they won’t return for two to three years.
SEE ALSO: Banks are hurting small biz’s growth potential
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Twitter’s value has quadrupled in less than a year
Posted on September 24, 2009 at 1:31 pm
The Journal reports that the Internet messaging sensation is set to snag $100 million from various investors, including mutual fund house T. Rowe Price. The deal values Twitter at about $1 billion, some four time the number insiders say it was deemed to be worth earlier this year.
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Angels in the TNInvestco mix
Posted on September 23, 2009 at 7:27 am
Milt Capps reports that the angel investors that last year helped launched a Nashville Capital Network sidecar fund are now also backing Tennessee Angel Fund, a statewide investment vehicle that is angling for a share of the TNInvestco funds the state will dole out.
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State allocates $150M for private equity
Posted on August 19, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Milt Capps has caught up with Lamar Villere, the director of Tennessee’s new private-equity investment program, who has committed a total of $150 million to three funds, including one of the firms that recently helped take Emdeon public. No Tennessee firms have been picked so far, but that may soon change, according to Villere.
[T]wo or three further appointments will be made this calendar year. Toward that end, he said he is in conversation each business day with potential fund managers. About once a week, those contacts include conversations with Tennessee-based fund managers.
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The perfect health care pitch
Posted on July 27, 2009 at 10:54 amThat’s what a group of finance and VC folks will discuss with seasoned industry exec Marty Rash and Owen Dean Jim Bradford next week. Our brethren at the Nashville Medical News are co-sponsoring the roundtable.
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Psst, wanna invest in some small companies?
Posted on July 23, 2009 at 12:47 pmThe state’s ECD team has outlined the process for picking the six firms that will receive $120 million of tax credits to help them invest in high-potential Tennessee companies. One of the rules: No money will go to ventures active in “professional accounting, medical or legal services, banking or lending, real estate development, insurance, oil and gas exploration or direct gambling services.”
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Feelin’ fit for growth
Posted on July 14, 2009 at 10:18 amAfter a $10.2 million shot of capital from Council Ventures brought it out of chapter 11, New Day Pharmacy says it’s ready to grow.
On the heels of a $10.2 million investment from a syndicate of institutional investors led by Council Ventures, New Day Pharmacy expects to boost its revenue by 50 percent a year and increase staff by slightly less than that, says CEO Richard Wager.
Wager says the company expects to increase its 28 person staff significantly to slightly less than 50 percent more than it currently employs.
New Day’s “in-house pharmacy” features a virtual information data bank, a paperless admissions process, a time-sequenced packaging system, long-distance delivery of medications, and on-site medication dispensing units.
Note: The article linked here from TechJournal South mistakenly refers to Richard Wager as New Day’s CEO. Wager is in fact the company’s president. New Day’s new chairman and CEO is James Usdan.
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Open-source software company moving HQ to Portland
Posted on June 23, 2009 at 8:52 amReductive Labs has secured almost $2 million in venture funding and will consolidate its executive team – CEO Luke Kanies now lives in Nashville – in the Northwest. Reductive’s software helps companies manage their IT systems.
SEE ALSO: Milt Capps’ follow-up with Kanies, who’s not afraid to call out Nashville’s tech scene.
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Knowledge-sharing venture wraps funding round
Posted on June 22, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Milt Capps reports on the progress being made by Nashville-based start-up Moontoast, which recently named former Juris boss Stephen Collins its new CEO. Now the company, which aims to ‘democratize knowledge’ by connecting those who know with those who want to know, has raised almost $800,000 in seed capital.
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The case for a smaller, healthier VC sector
Posted on June 10, 2009 at 8:25 amA new study sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation says venture-capital firms need to curtail their investments and focus on producing more profits.
The industry itself might be structurally flawed: The core markets that made it successful — information technology and telecommunications — are now mature and less capital intensive. In addition, exit markets are unwilling to take on young and unprofitable companies. Given that, the study says, the real question for venture is one of capital and size. As opportunities shrink, the venture business should shrink too, possibly by as much as 50 percent.
SEE ALSO: Forbes‘ piece on the study
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Franklin lighting company raises $3M
Posted on June 5, 2009 at 8:53 amAn investment group has put $3 million into Cool Springs-based Metrolight, which manufactures energy-efficient lighting products for the commercial and government markets. The company last raised money in the summer of 2007.
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Harbert Mezzanine exits portfolio co.
Posted on May 19, 2009 at 1:35 pmHarbert Management Corp.’s Nashville-based Mezzanine Capital Investment Team has exited one of its portfolio companies. Louisville-based Hosting.com has been acquired by Denver’s HostMySite.
Hosting.com was advised in the transaction by Signal Hill Capital, which will soon open its first Nashville beachhead. Further details about the deal available here.
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Gen Cap reloads
Posted on May 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm
The Nashville VC and private equity shop in March put a bow on its sixth fund.
The target for the Fund was $150 million with a $160 million hard cap, and it closed with $160 million in L.P. commitments. Investor interest equaled approximately double the targeted amount, and a placement agent was not used.
…
Gen Cap America, Inc. has been funding buyouts and recapitalizations since 1985. The investment strategy is to sponsor management led buyouts of established, profitable companies typically with revenues between $5 million and $100 million. Since inception, Gen Cap America has made a profit on every portfolio investment.
“The Fund will focus on small companies, which has historically been the most profitable segment of the buyout market,” said Don Napier, executive vice president of Gen Cap America, Inc. The target investment for this Fund will remain the same as prior Gen Cap funds – successful manufacturing, distribution, and service companies that have a management team in place that is willing to invest their own capital alongside the Fund.
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Claritas invests some more in Philly firm
Posted on at 12:36 amThe local venture capitalists take part in another round of funding for Sanovia, which helps insurers run their drug programs, and bring in Louisville’s Chrysalis Ventures.
The exploding costs of specialty pharmaceuticals and the number of new drugs in the regulatory pipeline have now reached the attention of plans, PBMs, distributors and regulators alike. The fresh capital will allow Sanovia to continually enhance its product suite and also leverage the growth potential of recent partnerships.
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