Midwest spin-outs find new investor

Venture Investors (VI), the oldest and largest venture capital (VC) firm in Wisconsin, has raised $80m in its fifth VC fund, falling short of its $150m target.
The fund will focus on investing in early-stage university spin-outs in Wisconsin and the surrounding areas. The fund has already made six investments, including University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) life sciences spin out Madison Vaccines.
VI has backed numerous university spin-outs in the past. Laser manufacturer and University of Michigan spin-out IntraLase, DNA research firm and UWM spin-out Third Wave Technologies, and fellow UWM cancer treatment firm TomoTherapy all held initial public offerings with VI backing, raising $86.6m, $82.5m, and $223m respectively with following acquisitions worth $808m, $580m, and $223m.
John Neis, a managing director of Venture Investors, said: “Given the (economic) climate, we are ecstatic to have raised a fund because a lot of our peers have not been successful. We principally look at what’s happening at the great research universities in the region. We’re in the backyard of two of the largest public research universities, both with more than $1 billion of research spending.”