Last week was a busy one for Wisconsin’s tech and innovation community. Here are a few notable items you might have missed:
—Madison, WI, held its third annual Startup Weekend, in which participants form teams and embark on a “54-hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation.” Startup Weekend Madison judge Troy Vosseller said the winning ideas chosen on Sunday were MemoryBank, which intends to create a Web portal where people can upload text, photos, or videos of themselves to create an archive of memories to share with family and friends; Konga, a Web application that shows a real-time map of open restaurant tables in the area, using green dots to show openings and red dots to show restaurants with wait times; and Mitinerary, a group travel website that coordinates discussion, planning, and booking.
There were 65 participants, which was down from about 90 last year, said co-organizer Forrest Woolworth. Woolworth couldn’t pinpoint why turnout was down this year, but he said the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team playing in Saturday night’s Final Four probably didn’t help.
—Exact Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EXAS]]), riding high after its proposed colorectal cancer screening test received unanimous support from an FDA advisory panel March 27, is raising an anticipated $119.7 million from a public offering of 10 million shares of common stock. The Madison-based company awaits FDA approval for its test.
—Stratasys (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SSYS]]), a 3D printer manufacturer with headquarters in Minnesota and Israel, has acquired Interfacial Solutions, a River Falls, WI-based provider of thermoplastics R&D and production services. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed. Stratasys has been an Interfacial customer for three years, the companies said.
—Monona, WI-based Shine Medical Technologies, a startup that plans to produce medical isotopes without a nuclear reactor, said it has signed up its first customer: GE Healthcare, which has a significant presence in southern Wisconsin.
