Here are some of the latest headlines in Wisconsin’s technology and innovation community:
—Gener8tor, the startup accelerator with locations in Milwaukee and Madison, came in at number 14 in a ranking of the best-performing accelerators nationwide. It was the first time Gener8tor submitted data to the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project, an annual study conducted by professors at MIT, Rice University, and the University of Richmond.
The study doesn’t make accelerators’ data public, but Gener8tor, which is in the midst of its sixth accelerator program, says its 28 graduates have raised more than $40 million from investors and created more than 300 jobs. Two of the companies have been acquired, and two are defunct, Gener8tor said in December.
—Middleton-based Lucigen tacked on more than $300,000 to its previously reported $2 million financing round, according to CEO Ralph Kauten and a new SEC document. The company is developing a rapid molecular diagnostic test for Ebola and Clostridium difficile, or C. diff.
—Epic Systems founder and CEO Judy Faulkner made waves with last week’s announcement that when she dies, most of her Epic stock holdings will go to a charitable foundation that will back nonprofits in healthcare and other sectors. The move will also keep Epic a private company. Forbes estimates Faulkner’s net worth at $2.8 billion. Epic leads the electronic health records market and is among the Madison area’s largest employers, with more than 8,000 employees as of last fall.
—As the 3D printing industry searches for its identity and a mainstream play, more examples are popping up of legacy industries integrating the technology with their businesses. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently featured one such project, as local metal company Louis Hoffmann partnered with a division of Stratasys (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SSYS]]) to make custom bronze doors for the National Archives building in Washington, DC.
