November has been busy for Wisconsin’s technology and innovation community. Here’s a rundown of some of the latest news:
—Mark Bakken will step down as CEO of fast-growing Madison company Nordic Consulting, which consults for healthcare providers using Epic Systems’ electronic health records software. Bakken plans to raise $10 million for a venture fund that would invest in local healthtech startups, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
—Stemina Biomarker Discovery said it’s getting a $2.3 million investment from the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation that will fund a planned 1,500-patient clinical study of the Madison startup’s blood-based test that examines metabolites to detect autism. Stemina recently published a smaller study that showed its test can diagnose autism with 81 percent accuracy. The company has so far raised $9.7 million from investors, and plans to raise another $3.4 million to grow the business, co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Donley said in an email.
—Madison-based Solomo Technology has raised $331,000 of a potential $1 million funding round, according to a new SEC filing. The company, which makes software and sensor devices to connect businesses with consumers, previously raised more than $2 million from investors, including winning $100,000 from AOL co-founder Steve Case at a recent pitch contest in Madison.
—Silatronix has added about $800,000 to its recent equity funding round, which now sits at $3.6 million, according to a new SEC filing. The Madison-based startup is aiming for $4.2 million in this round. Silatronix is developing electrolytes that would be used to make safer, better-performing lithium-ion batteries.
—Madison-based Xylome said it has licensed several technologies from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation that will allow it to develop and sell natural yeasts that are intended for use in making biofuels and renewable chemicals from cellulosic and hemicellulosic feedstocks. The technology showed promise in pilot trials, but Xylome must still conduct commercial-scale trials, president Thomas Jeffries said in a press release. Jeffries is also a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor emeritus of bacteriology.
—WhyHigh Technology, the new Menomonee Falls-based software startup from former Zywave executives Kimberly Capelle and Jim Emling, recently came out of stealth mode with a profile by the Milwaukee Business Journal. WhyHigh is a referral-based online marketplace for helping consumers find service providers, such as plumbers and roofers.
