Speed Venture Summit™ Scores Big
Nashua, NH, October 31, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Excitement filled the air and pulsed through the crowd yesterday at the 2009 Speed Venture Summit™. 47 companies pitched their growth stories in more than 250 private, in-person meetings with 24 different investor groups. The buzz reached a fever pitch during the public reception when more 350 tech and business leaders swarmed the public Pitch-Off among the top five businesses chosen by investors.
The Summit is the region’s premier speed-dating-style event for fast-growth businesses and investors, co-hosted by the New Hampshire High Technology Council and the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center, and brought to you by Gold Sponsor Comcast Business Class.
According to live remarks throughout the day from investors and business executives alike, the Summit lived up to its billing of delivering Capital-in-Action™ to New England's business and investment communities. In the midst of a speed pitch session, Silicon Valley Bank’s Oscar Jazdowski exclaimed, “This is wonderful. What we are seeing is venture capital in action.”
Although 50 companies had originally been scheduled to participate in the Summit, three had to withdraw for pressing business reasons. Summit organizers were pleased to learn that one SVS company withdrew because it planned, during Summit day itself, to close a capital round with an SVS investor.
“When companies get funded, we should take a moment to applaud their success, and the associated commitment their investors are making,” observed Summit producer Tim Platt. “This is what the private capital markets are all about.”
During the hotly-contested Pitch-Off, Highest Wind LLC and EnerTrac, Inc. withstood strong challenges from Telling Stone Software, Boston Heart Lab Corp, and ColdStor Data, Inc. to emerge as the two finalists. A surging crowd tapped EnerTrac as first runner-up and Highest Wind as the 2009 SVS Company of the Year. Highest Wind, based in Newmarket, NH, develops breakthrough wind-energy systems to harvest the winds 1,000 feet above the earth’s surface. Hudson, NH’s EnerTrac’s SaaS-based remote-monitoring service for heating oil/propane companies sharply reduces their delivery costs.
At the awards ceremony, Peter Marsh, Comcast Vice President, Business Services, congratulated Highest Wind’s Dimitri Cherny and EnerTrac’s Patrick Mansfield for besting the field of New England’s hottest new companies and for leading the Summit’s other companies in powering the region’s next generation of economic growth.
To keep their data safe when they are wooing customers, business partners and investors, Messrs. Cherny and Mansfield won application hosting services from award sponsor ColoSpace, Inc. To serve their mobile needs while wooing customers and capital, they each also scored Dell Mini Netbooks from award sponsor Dyn Inc.
“Providing access to capital for entrepreneurs is a top priority for the NH Small Business Development Center,” stated Mary Collins, SBDC state director. “The size and energy of today’s crowd attests to the number of connections that investors and entrepreneurs made, and NH SBDC is pleased to be part of this matching and meeting process.”
The Speed Venture Summit™ vision is to help launch the best companies by providing them ready access to private capital. The Speed Venture Summit™: Where Capital & Business Match in Minutes.
For more information about the Summit, visit www.speedventuresummit.org
About the NH Small Business Development Center (NH SBDC): The NH SBDC provides confidential business management consulting and educational programs to New Hampshire’s small businesses. NH SBDC is an outreach program of the UNH Whittemore School of Business & Economics, and a cooperative venture with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the State of New Hampshire (DRED), the University System of New Hampshire, and the private sector. For more info on the NH SBDC, visit www.nhsbdc.org.
About the New Hampshire High Technology Council (NHHTC): The NHHTC’s purpose is to bring together representatives from the private and public sectors to establish and maintain financial, technical, management, legislative and educational support programs that encourage innovative research and technology-based industrial development in NH. www.nhhtc.org
Media Contacts:
Tim Platt
Producer, Speed Venture Summit™
603.410.1520
tcp kinsmanco com
###
The Summit is the region’s premier speed-dating-style event for fast-growth businesses and investors, co-hosted by the New Hampshire High Technology Council and the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center, and brought to you by Gold Sponsor Comcast Business Class.
According to live remarks throughout the day from investors and business executives alike, the Summit lived up to its billing of delivering Capital-in-Action™ to New England's business and investment communities. In the midst of a speed pitch session, Silicon Valley Bank’s Oscar Jazdowski exclaimed, “This is wonderful. What we are seeing is venture capital in action.”
Although 50 companies had originally been scheduled to participate in the Summit, three had to withdraw for pressing business reasons. Summit organizers were pleased to learn that one SVS company withdrew because it planned, during Summit day itself, to close a capital round with an SVS investor.
“When companies get funded, we should take a moment to applaud their success, and the associated commitment their investors are making,” observed Summit producer Tim Platt. “This is what the private capital markets are all about.”
During the hotly-contested Pitch-Off, Highest Wind LLC and EnerTrac, Inc. withstood strong challenges from Telling Stone Software, Boston Heart Lab Corp, and ColdStor Data, Inc. to emerge as the two finalists. A surging crowd tapped EnerTrac as first runner-up and Highest Wind as the 2009 SVS Company of the Year. Highest Wind, based in Newmarket, NH, develops breakthrough wind-energy systems to harvest the winds 1,000 feet above the earth’s surface. Hudson, NH’s EnerTrac’s SaaS-based remote-monitoring service for heating oil/propane companies sharply reduces their delivery costs.
At the awards ceremony, Peter Marsh, Comcast Vice President, Business Services, congratulated Highest Wind’s Dimitri Cherny and EnerTrac’s Patrick Mansfield for besting the field of New England’s hottest new companies and for leading the Summit’s other companies in powering the region’s next generation of economic growth.
To keep their data safe when they are wooing customers, business partners and investors, Messrs. Cherny and Mansfield won application hosting services from award sponsor ColoSpace, Inc. To serve their mobile needs while wooing customers and capital, they each also scored Dell Mini Netbooks from award sponsor Dyn Inc.
“Providing access to capital for entrepreneurs is a top priority for the NH Small Business Development Center,” stated Mary Collins, SBDC state director. “The size and energy of today’s crowd attests to the number of connections that investors and entrepreneurs made, and NH SBDC is pleased to be part of this matching and meeting process.”
The Speed Venture Summit™ vision is to help launch the best companies by providing them ready access to private capital. The Speed Venture Summit™: Where Capital & Business Match in Minutes.
For more information about the Summit, visit www.speedventuresummit.org
About the NH Small Business Development Center (NH SBDC): The NH SBDC provides confidential business management consulting and educational programs to New Hampshire’s small businesses. NH SBDC is an outreach program of the UNH Whittemore School of Business & Economics, and a cooperative venture with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the State of New Hampshire (DRED), the University System of New Hampshire, and the private sector. For more info on the NH SBDC, visit www.nhsbdc.org.
About the New Hampshire High Technology Council (NHHTC): The NHHTC’s purpose is to bring together representatives from the private and public sectors to establish and maintain financial, technical, management, legislative and educational support programs that encourage innovative research and technology-based industrial development in NH. www.nhhtc.org
Media Contacts:
Tim Platt
Producer, Speed Venture Summit™
603.410.1520
tcp kinsmanco com
###
Contact
Speed Venture Summit
Tim Platt
603.410.1500
www.speedventuresummit.org
Tim Platt
603.410.1500
www.speedventuresummit.org
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