Companies seeking capital will unite with venture capital and private investment representatives at Innovest ’00, an annual statewide venture capital conference.
This year’s conference, which rotates each year among Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, is set for May 3 and 4 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Columbus.
The event features Alfred R. Berkeley III, president of The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., as the luncheon speaker May 4. Prior to joining Nasdaq, Berkeley was a managing director and senior banker in the corporate finance department of Alex, Brown & Sons Inc., where his primary expertise involved large computer software and electronic commerce companies.
The keynote speaker May 3 is Nancy Kramer, founder and CEO of Resource Marketing Inc., a $75 million technology marketing and communications firm with clients including Hewlett Packard, Adobe, Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Burton Snowboards, The Limited, Huntington Banks and others.
Thirty companies from throughout the Great Lakes region will give presentations on their business plans in the hopes of drawing interest from investors at the conference.
In 1999, Innovest presenting companies included Accelent Systems, Akron; Docosa Foods Ltd., Columbus; MedHost Inc., Toledo; Medsonics US Inc., New York; and PlanSoft Corp., Twinsburg. Successes from previous conferences include Columbus-based Continental Auto Receivables Inc., which secured $6 million in funding as a direct result of its Innovest presentation in 1996, and Cincinnati-based Synchrony Communications, formerly Intelecare, which raised $275,000 from three private investors it met through Innovest ’98 and has since done an $11 million private placement.
This year, Innovest is produced by Enterprise Development Inc., Ohio Department of Development and Columbus Investment Interest Group. Host organizations are Battelle; Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP; Deloitte & Touche LLP; Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce; Huntington Capital Corp.; KPMG LLP; The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.; Ohio’s Edison Technology Centers; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; SBN magazine; Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP; Venture Assets; and Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease LLP.
How to reach: Innovest ’00, www.innovest.org, or call Enterprise Development Inc., (216) 229-9445. Attendees should contact Rich Simpkins at ext. 152; presenter information is available from Charles Burkett at ext. 157.
