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Event Access: by-invitation
To enable and ensure substantive interaction - formal and informal - facilities booked for Event can accommodate only 100-110 people.
- Event is NOT open-access.
- Once we are at capacity, Registration will close.
- Pre-registration required. Walk-ins not permitted.
Organizers reserve right to refuse registration -- and will do so! |
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SBIR Venture Capital activity: the Corporate VC factor
In recent past, ONE in every $7-8 of VC investment in US has involved an SBIR firm
Corporate VC a factor in 27% of all SBIR VC transactions,
Total VC-SBIR investment to date: $64.52B. (compared to $38.75B SBIR dollars) |
Coincident with the 1983 passage of the SBIR enabling legislation, other legislative and business initiatives were underway - eg Bayh-Dole - similarly designed positively to impact overall climate for technology innovation. Critical among these were elements to support what became an important surge in Venture Capital activity.
In crafting the
original SBIR concept, we stressed that developed technology - funded through Phases I & II by participating federal agencies - sh/would transition to the
use-condition of Phase III with
non-SBIR support.
To some extent, therefore one could argue that SBIR and VC 'have grown up' together. Certainly, from the very earliest days of SBIR a substantial percentage of Awardees have been in receipt of Venture Capital investment at some level.

- Over the life of the program to date, some 21,424 US small firms have been SBIR-STTR at some level - to include many now well-known names.
- Over this period, a total of 2393 SBIR awardees have been VC funded at some level - a quite remarkable 11.41% of all awardees.
- ... in the context of this Event, particularly noteworthy, however, some 27% of those VC funded firms count Corporate VC among their investors.
.. so what is this Corporate VC Forum about? The short answer, of course, is... it's about Raising Money:
Most VC-focused events will draw a crowd and,
based on experience, this one will be no exception.The
longer answer is that it is a carefully-designed effort - with a
good track record of actual results - of connecting
pre-qualified SBIR Awardees with capabilities particularly relevant to
- the investment arm of one/more Corporate Entities often having a very different agenda to that of financial VC
- along with other Qualified Investors having demonstrated SBIR interest and involvement
Some of participating VCs will be traditional, financial-return based entities; a few having asked to participate are from that population of investors of increasingly importance: Angels Groupings. The
primary emphasis, however, will be participation of
- some part of the 115 Corporate VC entities already involved with current SBIR awardees
- and to attract the interest and involvement of some of the newer Corporate VC players for whom SBIR connection may be new territory.
Substantive at-Event experience: which awardees?
This carefully structured, well-rounded event is designed to be useful to
- those not yet funded firms actively seeking equity participation
- those perhaps not having previously thought about the Corporate approach or having tried unsuccessfully to move in that direction
- those with some in-place support, seeking follow-on rounds
- or those in early stage of preparing for an appropriate liquidity event
The primary focus, of course, is on
enabling actual investment in SBIR-involved firms. To that end,
- in addition to the critically important activities of providing structured presentation and important follow-up interaction opportunities - pre-, at- and post-event
- this Event is also offers substantial opportunity for personal and professional exchange: a sophisticated learning experience enabling all parties to these transactions to get their arms around what they are doing and the considerable value-added of the SBIR-connection elements.