Last week was an especially busy one for Wisconsin’s tech and innovation community, thanks to the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference and a flurry of funding announcements. Here’s a few additional news items that might have flown under the radar:
—Apple recently announced its iOS 8 software system, and a Wisconsin company will play a prominent role in one of the new features. Epic Systems, the healthcare software provider based in Verona, WI, is one of Apple’s partners on its new HealthKit, a developer tool that aims to link various health and fitness apps.
—Winter graduates of Gener8tor’s startup accelerator program in Madison received a boost in follow-on funding raised through SeedInvest, an online platform for striking deals with accredited investors. The Milwaukee Business Journal first reported the news, citing an SEC filing that indicated $214,525 was raised from 16 investors. The total ended up climbing to $239,525 through SeedInvest, or $47,905 for each of the five startups in the winter class, Gener8tor co-founder Troy Vosseller told Xconomy. That’s in addition to the $57,740 each company received from Gener8tor, Madison-based Wisconsin Investment Partners, and Oshkosh, WI-based Angels on the Water, he said.
—The first startup to take advantage of Wisconsin’s new equity crowdfunding law? MobCraft Beer, a Madison-based brewer that crowdsources its recipes and last week was among the winners in the Governor’s Business Plan Contest. So far, Milwaukee-based CraftFund is the only crowdfunding portal that has registered with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. MobCraft’s equity crowdfunding campaign should be open to investors in the next week or so, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.
—BizStarts Milwaukee, the nonprofit that connects local startups to business resources, has hired a new entrepreneur director. Jacquin Davidson is a Wisconsin native who has worked in California for much of her life, including starting two businesses and working at L.A. ad agency J. Walter Thompson, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
