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News & Deals

• Venture Capital in Florida

  Jamie Grooms is pretty darn good at making something out of nothing. In 1998, the former tissue bank director founded the University of Florida’s most successful biotech spinout, Regeneration Technologies. He served as CEO during its uncertain infancy, raised its first venture capital (VC) rounds, oversaw its $75 million initial public offering and ultimately led it to a profitable $150 million in revenues by 2001.
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• UF Tech Connect Fuels Innovation Economy in First 12 Years
  

  In its first dozen years of operation, the University of Florida’s Tech Connect program has helped launch 157 technology-based startup companies that in turn generated more than $1 billion in private funding, $530 million in public funding and 2,000 new jobs, according to a report released today. During the fiscal year that ended June 30, the report shows, the program’s affiliated companies hired more than 345 new employees and raised more than $106 million in private funding and $105 million in public funding. The report was prepared by UF’s Office of Technology Licensing. Continue reading

• Florida and New York are talking trash over business recruitment
  

  Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater is telling media in New York that the Empire State’s “Start-Up NY” — a marketing campaign to coax businesses to new tax-free zones — should prominently feature positive aspects of Florida. Atwater began making the pitch because New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomoapparently had the audacity to cast the net for new business into Florida; a state that has made poaching companies from other areas part of its economic-recovery blueprint. Continue reading

• Database: The 13 Florida companies that raised $112.9M in 2Q
  

  Central Florida had four venture capital deals in the second quarter of 2014 worth a total of $61.6 million. Statewide, 13 companies courted investors and closed on $112.9 million in venture capital, according to a May 20 report fromMoneyTree, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPand the National Venture Capital Association. Central Florida had more than 55 percent of the state’s total, landing four venture capital deals, including the state’s largest VC deal in the quarter. Continue reading