Corrections or additions?
Where Are the 2000 Companies Now?
Entrants to this year’s NJTC venture fair will arrive
with high hopes. But what ever happened to companies that put their
hopes and dreams up for auction at last year’s fair? Princeton’s seven
entries comprised just 10 percent of the total. With two significant
exceptions, the Princeton-area companies represented at last year’s
fair have prospered. None can point to the venture fair as a specific
source of capital, but most say they benefited — if indirectly
— from the exposure.
Top Of PageIPGDirect Expanding
IPGDirect.com won the “best management team” awardand grew quickly, moving from the Straube Center to Newtown,Pennsylvania,where it now has 35 employees. IPG Direct covers, compiles, anddeliversnews and research information in three markets — commercial realestate, energy, and construction. (215-504-4288, www.ipgdirect.com).With 35 employees, it offers real-time market reports, benchmarkpricingindexes, deal-flow databases, expert commentary, and in-depth newsreports.Top Of PageBuyer for Nex-i.comNex-i.com, which won the “most likely to gopublic”prize, had a different kind of success — it was sold. PresidentIra Baseman’s first child was days away from being born when he closedon his second round of funding — and six months old when he soldthe company to EurekaGGN (www.eurekaggn.com) for its broadband”rollup”of integrated communications services. Now he plans to take some timeto enjoy his baby daughter.Baseman says that Nex-i.com received no direct investment traceableto the fair, but that participation increased the company’s exposure.”I would say without question that our part in the last year’sNJTC venture fair was most helpful,” says Baseman. In contrastto the often very fancy exhibits, his consisted of a tablecloth, abackdrop with a logo, and an investor-oriented flyer that he andJessicaMichaud, the vice president of marketing, had put together. “Wekept it simple,” he says, “and return on investment wasexceptional.””Receiving the `most likely to go public” award validatedus and gave us something to talk about. It’s about presentation andgetting your message on,” says Baseman. “You have to walk awaywith some exposure that you can point to substantively, whethergettinga picture or your name in the paper, or walking away with a prize.I’ll keep that plaque for the next opportunity.”EurekaGGN, based in Manhattan, resulted from a merger last yearbetweenEureka Broadband Corp. (which delivered broadband Internet tocommercialbuildings) and Gillette Global Network (which provided voice services,dedicated Internet access, and Web application services). Packagedwith the nex-i purchase was nex-i’s $10 million in cash plus another$4 million from its investors, Mellon Ventures and LLR EquityPartners.The 20-person office at Emmons Drive is expected to be closed.Both Baseman and co-founder Michael Markulec were first timeentrepreneurswhen they opened an office at Research Park to do “plug andplay”local networks for small to medium-sized businesses. Baseman, whograduated in 1984 from George Washington, says that in the days beforethe second round of funding, he contemplated naming his futuredaughter”Series B.” He declines to say what he made from the salebut expects to “reengage in a new venture” soon.Top Of PageForeign Funds for GeepsGeeps.com came away empty handed from the venture fundlast year but found funding overseas, from London-based CupolaInvestments.This two-year-old 20-person company at Exit 8A’s Cedar Brook CorporateCenter is a location-based wireless Internet shopping portal (U.S.1, November 29, 2000). If you turn on your Palm Pilot as you walkdown the street, sales and special offers will be beamed to you fromnearby stores.”United States VCs are not very active in wireless, and EuropeanVCs are more open, because there is a different acceptance level inEurope and Japan,” says Arshad Mashood, president (609-409-8484,www.geeps.com). “We have $3 million in additional funding, fora total of $7 million, and are on track for product development andcustomer signups.” The old-fashioned method of sending out abusinessplan was what piqued Cupola’s interest, but attending overseas venturefairs helped as well.Top Of PageOEM Deals for KniteKnite Inc.: Since the NJTC venture fair, though not asa result of it, Knite has hired a hotshot executive and is findinginvestors on its own. The arrival of David Boyer as president andCEO coincided with $1 million in new money, including $600,000 tiedto Boyer (some of this was his investment).”We got no money at the fair but useful contacts were madethere,”says Boyer. The company has raised a total of $3 million and isseeking$2 million to $5 million for a second round. “We would like tohave two to three years funding to be able to ramp up,” saysBoyer,who is looking for more office space to accommodate R&D efforts inelectronics and engine technology. “Our business model is notto go public but to license the technology to OEMs (original equipmentmanufacturers). We have a number of customers, including one of theautomotive OEMs, plus a large marine OEM.”Founded to market and license new ignition system applications, Knitehas eight employees at Princeton Corporate Plaza (Deer Park Drive)and two workers at an engine lab in a warehouse on Whitehorse Road.The founder is a Princeton University plasma physics teacher, SzymonSuckewer, whose son Art is chief technology office (www.knite.com).Knite’s Kinetic Spark Ignition (KSI) generates a spark 100 timesgreaterthan the conventional system for just slightly more in cost, saysBoyer. “If tuned properly it should result in vastly improvedcombustion, increased power, expanded fuel efficiency, and substantialreductions in emission. Manufacturers are having great difficultygetting direct fuel injection to function efficiently with improvedperformance over conventional fuel delivery systems. The KSI ignitionsystem can help launch direct fuel injection systems as well asenhanceperformance on lean burn and exhaust gas recirculation systems.”He predicts an improvement in fuel economy by 15 percent on the roadand up to 30 percent for marine engines.The son of an entrepreneur, Boyer and his wife have an entrepreneurialson and two grown daughters. He went to St. Joseph’s in Indiana, Classof 1964, and attended the University of Detroit, was a sales engineerfor Texaco, served in the Coast Guard, and went to the plannedmanagementdevelopment course at Harvard. Starting at Teleflex 32 years ago,he worked his way up to CEO of the 14,000-worker $1.6 billion companyin Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Last year he left the job, to bereplaced by the chairman’s son, and invested in the KSI technologies.”I had a track record of consistent earnings and revenue growthperformance, and was looking around for a startup with some youngpeople. The KSI technology looked like it had significant potential,and it seemed exciting to pilot a canoe instead of an aircraftcarrier.”Top Of PageRefocusing, DownsizingOne of the few biotech firms to enter last year’s fair, VeritasMedical Technologies has refocused and changed its name toVectramedInc.. It moved its office within Forrestal Village and JamesPachence,the president, is temporarily housed with InsureHiTech. The laboratorywork is still being accomplished by five researchers at the Universityof Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Pachence says the firm hasmoved to site directed drug delivery rather than oral, sustainedreleaseof drugs (609-466-8712, www.vectramed.com).The once-high flying dot com firm Make Us an Offer , headedby the husband and wife team of Michael and Kathy Morell, hasdisappearedfrom the scene. Another entrant into last year’s fair, Cell USAInc., has gone into bankruptcy.Dire consequences came when Cell USA failed to reach its venturefair target, $1.5 million. The France-based virtual instrument companythat develops “plug and play peripherals” for use with PCshad already spent $1.4 million to get products through the earlymanufacturingstages. Cell USA’s products can be used in the field on a laptop;it hoped to replace similar products that are attached to dedicatedPCs.To squeeze costs Michael Hinds outsourced to a firm in Summit andclosed his office at the Daily Plan It on Alexander Road. When thecompany went into receivership in France, Hinds put in an offer tobuy the assets, including the intellectual property, for 10 centson the dollar. “I am still trying to raise money,” says Hinds,a former vice president of Cytogen (E-mail: lmhinds@msn.com, Box 843,Washington Crossing PA 18977).The website (www.cellinc.com) is still live but does not take orders.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
