INNOVATION & INVESTMENT 2020
NATIONAL ANGEL-VC SUMMIT & GROWTH CAPITAL FORUM
Opportunity to Present at the Club 101 New York to more than
100 of the Nation’s Leading Private Equity and Venture Capital Investors
A Personal Message to Presenter Candidates:
If you are seeking capital and would like to be positioned to complete a round of financing within the next several months, you are welcome to submit your application to present at our upcoming conference, Business Innovation & Investment 2020: National Angel-VC Summit and Growth Capital Forum; being held on Thursday, June 25th, in the Main Dining Room of the Club 101 New York. This upcoming venue can greatly enhance your ability to accelerate the funding process and meet your capital raising goals. Since we only have limited number of openings for Presenters, please contact me as soon as possible with respect to your interest in being on the program.
As a courtesy, we can tentatively hold a Presenter slot while you are considering this opportunity, subject to your confirmation and a review of the company on our part. To get things in motion, just send your Executive Summary to me at mike.segal@verizon.net and I will get back to you as quickly as possible. Companies will be considered for the event in the order that their information is received by our firm. If you have any questions or would like to speak with me first, please feel free to call me on my direct line in the Tri-State area at 203 438 4411.
This important event will provide a unique and highly-efficient platform to meet qualified investors and financial partners in a very prestigious setting. We expect principals from more than 150 active early and later-stage investment funds to attend from throughout the United States. In addition, many high net worth investors and a number of prominent angel groups will be joining us. Even against the backdrop of the current economic downturn, our last forum was a great success with over 200 registrants, which included many Angels, as well as leading private equity and venture capital firms - representing more than $25 billion in capital. In addition to the well-established brand-equity of our venues, the strong investor response to our recent events would indicate that there is no shortage of interest from investment funds and private investors who are looking for serious opportunities in promising early and later-stage companies. From our vantage point, we can see there is a clear readiness to invest from many VCs, private equity funds and Angels who understand that historically, it is in times of economic downturn that that the best investment opportunities are available.
Please keep in mind that our events distinguish themselves from many other venues in several key respects. Here are a few of them.
1) Nearly 100% of the guests (not connected with the presenting companies) are active investors who have PAID to attend.
2) Presenting companies reach a NATIONAL audience of qualified funding sources focusing on early-stage opportunities.
3) Only 12 to 15 companies are featured on the program which provides for high visibility to investors.
4) The events are not primarily sponsor supported and accordingly NOT heavily populated with service providers.
5) There are no concurrent activities or competing presentations. All companies present to the entire audience.
6) Companies are never more than 10 to 20 minutes from their breakout sessions after they present.
7) These are “deal-oriented” events. There are no panels or other distractions from putting the spotlight on the presenters.
8) The majority of the attendees are PRINCIPALS of the private equity or venture capital firms whom they represent.
9) Presenters can plan for the forums in advance as we provide confirmed guest information prior to the conference dates.
Our private equity forums, started in 2001, are among America’s best-attended events - noted for a first-class venue and an ultra high-end roster of funding sources. These deal-focused symposiums have provided a remarkably beneficial venue for companies to reach a national audience of qualified potential investors. The management of presenting companies benefit from being able to get their story across to an extremely receptive audience in a very favorable upscale setting. Over the last eight years, our experience has shown that the investor venue created through our forums can significantly reduce the cost of capital as well as the time necessary to raise it, particularly in this current market with fewer active players for early-stage companies and tougher investment criteria.
The upcoming venue can help you solve the three biggest problems in raising capital 1) identifying qualified investors, 2) gaining credible entrée to them and 3) meeting them under favorable circumstances. Moreover, the event drives the single most essential factor in getting funded quickly, and that is the ability to create contemporaneous interest among investors - which also can serve to significantly improve deal terms.
Of particular importance, is the fact that our events are not primarily supported by paid sponsors. As a result, they are not heavily populated by service providers or vendors who would have no interest in investing in your company. Because we draw from all over the country, this venue will be a most cost-effective way for Presenters to meet investors from outside of their particular regions. You should also be aware that the majority of guests are partners, founders and managing directors of their respective firms; affording the featured companies a chance to reach senior people from the outset. You can find a complete index listing our current as well as prior conference registrants, organized by “Industry Sector Preferences”, at http://www.starlightcapital.com/?id=276.
If your company is selected to present, M. J. Segal Associates can provide you with introductions to any of the firms listed on the conference website, irrespective of their attendance at the upcoming event. As you know, in many cases, companies can pay investment bankers up to several hundred thousand dollars in front-end fees and monthly retainers to gain access to these types of investment groups. Companies presenting at this forum gain the same entrée at only a small fraction of that cost, notwithstanding the inherent efficiency of our highly-targeted venue.
In order to be showcased at the event, presenter candidates must meet certain general criteria that are described online at www.privateequityforums.com/qualifications.html. As our events are not subsidized by vendors or service providers, companies are required to pay a Presenter Fee based upon a number of visibility options. Our forum could be best described as a co-op for the 12 to 15 companies that present. We underwrite the events and the presenting companies share in the cost. They do so because our model ensures them an audience of nearly 100% qualified investors, for an expenditure which generally pencils-out to less than $100 for each capital source in attendance.
With respect to the Presenter qualifications, we favor companies with some revenues, but will also consider pre-revenue development-stage companies with new platform technology or some proof of concept. Revenues forecast by the third year following funding should approach $15 to $20 million. Preferred industry sectors are Information Management Systems, Enterprise Software, Business Process Management, Computer Technology, Wireless Technology, Telecommunications, Energy Technology, Network Hardware and Software, Healthcare Services, Education & Training, Medical Devices, Manufacturing Technology, New Media and Publishing, Internet-Based Business Solutions, Life Sciences, Distance Learning, Financial Services, Consumer Marketing, Specialty Retail, Outsourced Business Services and Supply Chain Management. Other sectors may also be considered with sufficient growth potential. More information regarding the Conference and Presenter Qualifications can also be found online at www.privateequityforums.com.
If raising capital is the primary obstacle that stands in the way of moving your company forward, you should seriously consider the visibility that we can provide at the upcoming event. As I am sure you are aware, most professional investors will not even consider deals where they do not personally know management or those which have not been referred by a reliable source. These forums significantly help to remove barriers and increase management's power to reach qualified investors. Our private investor symposiums can provide the third-party endorsement and credibility, which is so critical for getting funded in today’s market.
We estimate that more than $300 million has gone to past Presenters and Entrepreneur Guests over the last several years, much of which could be directly or indirectly attributed to our forums Our prior conference guests and other funds who have invested in these businesses include such prominent groups as listed below by funded company. Of course, there is no assurance that presenting at our upcoming forum will result in obtaining capital. This can be affected by many factors over which we have no control, such as the deal terms that you would find acceptable and how well a company prepares for the event, follow-ups with investors and responds to due diligence questions. Accordingly, this information on prior fundings should be viewed as instructive, but not predictive.
Dittach - Various Angel Investors
Unequal Technologies - I Networks Opportunity Fund and Optimal Economics Capital Partners
B-Vitals - Starr Associates
Nomi Beauty - Zilkha Family Office
Pogotec - Edelson Technology Partners
Zive - Ticker Tape Investments
Augmate: Lightship Partners, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, Siemens Venture Capital, Rothenberg Ventures and Simon Venture Group
BlueCava: S3 Ventures, Performance Edge Partners and Zeitgeist Capital.
FlexLight Networks: Accel Partners, Concept Ventures, Concord Ventures, Coral Ventures and St. Paul Venture Capital
Aircuity: IDP, Navigator Technology Ventures, Venture Capital Fund of New England, Industrial Development Partners
iKimbo: Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Draper Atlantic, Schoffstall Ventures and Riggs Capital Investment
Visioneered Image Systems: Baker Capital, 21Venture and Arcturus Capital
Adzilla: Alloy Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners
LNL Technologies: Mohr and Davidow Ventures
BioVigilant: Battelle Ventures, Innovation Valley Partners and Pearl Street Venture Funds
Ifbyphone: Apex Venture Partners and Origin Ventures
HardMetrics: NextStage Capital, Osage Ventures and SilkRoad Equity
Burly Bear Network: NB Capital Venture Partners, Citigroup Investments and CIT Venture Capital
TelaDoc: Tri-State Private Investors Network, Trident Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
Vystar: Tri-State Private Investors and Network of Business Angels and Investors
Minnow Medical: Neomed Management, Christopher Weil and other private investors
Cybersettle: Spencer Trask Ventures, Tri-State Private Investors Network, Bowery Partners and Saint-Donat & Co.
E Ink: FA Technology Ventures, Hearst Corporation, Intel Capital and Motorola Ventures
Xtellus: AIG Orion Fund, Alta Berkeley Venture Partners and Israel Seed Partners
nTag: Pilot House Ventures and Group Sevin Rosen Funds
Operative (Formerly Trafficmac): Aardvark Capital
AgriPower: Vogel Capital Management and other investors
Hingi: Opus Capital Ventures
Xtify: Acadia Woods Partners and SeventySix Capital
Health Plan One: Pequot Capital and Greycroft Partners
Varentec: Khosla Ventures and other investors
Lymbix: GrowthWorks and Atlantic Venture Fund
NewsIT: Golden Seeds and other investors
Funium: Family Odyssey, Keiretsu Forum and other investors
Provista Diagnostics: Group of various institutional investors
Savara Pharmaceuticals: Lightship Partners and Keiretsu Forum
Freedom Meditech: Lightship Partners
Chelsio: East West Bank through Breitbart Capital
Knowledge Delivery Systems - Edison Ventures
Biological Mimetics – Star Associates
Santos Beverages: Bennett Family Office
Xooker: Various Angel Investors
Snoopwall: Various Angel Investors
Big Cat Bikes - Various Angel Investors through Vendome Bond
Atmosphere - Eastern Institutional Funding
ThermoTents - Private Investment through HPG Partners
Forever - Star Associates
We sincerely believe that if a company's potential is truly compelling, and that management's vision can be effectively communicated, it will not find a more cost-effective way to reach potential funding sources directly, than by presenting at the upcoming event. Again, this is a unique opportunity to get your message across in “one place and in one day” to active serious investors who want to see fundable deals.
I look forward to hearing from you and learning more about your funding requirements.
Kindest regards,
Mike Segal, President
MJSEGALASSOCIATES
Direct Line: 203 438 4411
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