If you missed this morning’s Facebook live presentation on COVID-19 Efforts and Resources for Entrepreneurs, you can watch the replay here. The presentation was organized and hosted by i2E’s Malachi Blankenship.Read more
News
By Scott Meacham The COVID-19 medical and economic crisis is relentless. Every day more people, locations and institutions are impacted. Scientists and other experts are appropriately realistic. Matters are likely to worsen, at least near-term, before we flatten the curve of infection. Our hearts go out to the sick and their families. We send everlastingRead more
By Paula Burkes Copyright 2020, The Oklahoman Editor’s note: William Petty is CEO of Stillwater-based Bubble Calm, which was first place winner in the High Growth Graduate Division of the 2019 Love’s Cup competition Q: I understand you’re marketing a product that helps people in times like these. What is it? A: Bubble Calm isRead more
April 1, 2020 Contact: Sarah Seagraves, Senior VP for Marketing (405) 813-2403 sseagraves@i2E.org Oklahoma City, OK-based Linear Health Sciences has developed a globally patented medical device known as the Orchid Safety Release Valve (SRV), designed to limit disconnection of IV catheters for patients worldwide. OKLAHOMA CITY — i2E Management Company, Inc. (iMCI), recently led anRead more
High Growth Division Interview winners The Chickasaw Nation Student Generated – Cadenzo, University of Oklahoma Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Healthcare – Novel Neuro, The University of Tulsa OCAST Information and Technology – Chasing Failure, University of Oklahoma OG&E Positive Energy and Environmental – EmPads, Oklahoma State University Oklahoma Business Roundtable Manufacturing, Material Sciences, and TransportationRead more
By Scott Meacham We are in unprecedented times. Seemingly overnight, the world has changed, possibly forever. We are dealing with a pandemic disease that has no vaccine or cure. The stock market has lost a third of its value. People are being furloughed and laid off. Many hourly workers can’t pay for their groceries, rentRead more
By Scott Meacham Growing a successful startup company is all about growing sales. And growing sales is an expertise that Brian Bomar, CEO of Whiteboard Technology knows very well. Bomar took everything he learned from 15 years in the mortgage industry, and before that several years more working for a local technology startup to createRead more
By Scott Meacham i2E’s connection to MaxQ Research, a Stillwater company that creates validated packaging systems for blood and other biologics, actually began with the 2012 Governor’s Cup, now the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup, Oklahoma’s statewide collegiate business plan competition sponsored by Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores. MaxQ was one of the competing business plans.Read more
By Scott Meacham Successful startups are all about vision and passion and great ideas. They are also about attaining metrics that lead to positive cashflow and attract investment. When it comes to metrics, the customer growth story from SendaRide, a young Oklahoma company that provides customized, concierge, non-emergency medical transportation, packs a punch. SendaRide servesRead more
By Scott Meacham As i2E has been closing our latest round of new investments over the last few weeks, I am reminded of how in the startup world and the venture industry, investment events attract attention. I don’t usually write about investment events. The celebratory milestones have already occurred over the weeks, months, and yearsRead more
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By Dale Denwalt Copyright 2020, The Oklahoman The evolutionary defenses of a fungus could help humans deal with another defense mechanism, the noxious odor of skunk spray. Robert H. Cichewicz and his Natural Products Discovery Group were hunting for a chemical to help treat breast cancer when they found a surprising molecule made byRead more
By Scott Meacham It is hard to start a business — very, very hard. This is true on Main Street, for information technology businesses and in biotech. For all entrepreneurs, building a company is a race against time, a race in which every milestone of success increases the pressure on the business plan. The biggestRead more
By Scott Meacham It’s a good thing when state leaders recognize the strategic importance of innovation in job and wealth creation. It’s also a good thing when a state considers legislation to help address capital gaps. Oklahoma’s Technology Business Finance Program (TBFP) Seed Fund is a nationally recognized best practices example of legislated early stageRead more
By Jim Stafford STILLWATER – Don’t look for a sign in downtown Stillwater advertising the presence of HostBridge Technology, which has maintained its headquarters just off Main Street for two decades. There isn’t one. Founded by Russell Teubner in 2000, HostBridge Technology occupies a historic building along E. 7th Street, just off Main Street. TheRead more
PR Newswire February 11, 2020 Pill to restore natural hearing moves one step closer to market OKLAHOMA CITY, Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Hough Ear Institute (HEI), a nonprofit based in Oklahoma City, is proud to announce that its pharmaceutical partner, Auditus LLC (Auditus), a wholly owned subsidiary of Otologic Pharmaceutics Inc. (OPI), hasRead more
February 10, 2020 Contact: Sarah Seagraves, Senior VP for Marketing (405) 813-2403 sseagraves@i2E.org OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma college students competing in the 2020 Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup turned to a group of national investors for insight and direction into their concepts during the recent Interview portion of the business plan competition. Love’s Travel Stops & CountryRead more
By Scott Meacham My mantra of investing, as any regular reader of this column knows, is capital begets capital. That’s why Oklahoma’s unique, pre-seed capital fund, Technology Business Finance Program (TBFP), is so critical to Oklahoma’s innovation economy. TBFP deploys state funding to provide equity-free capital for startups at such an early stage that thereRead more
By Scott Meacham Recently, I received a phone call about a friend who was raising a fund specifically to invest in women-led companies. Considering the track record of venture capital invested in women-led firms, it’s easy to understand her focus. In the United States, about 2.5 to 3 percent of all venture funding goes toRead more
By Scott Meacham Mentoring is one of the most valuable venture services i2E provides to Oklahoma’s innovators and entrepreneurs. Our mentoring covers a wide range of topics and situations based on the leadership team’s experience, the stage of the startup, and the market the company is working to serve. We are focused when we mentor.Read more
