Modern Movement, Shift Savings, and Lactic Solutions.
“The good news is that we as a community have made some good investments” in resources for startups, Vosseller says, citing the VC firm 4490 Ventures in Madison and newer corporate venture groups such as Northwestern Mutual’s Cream City Venture Capital. “But I think we still need more time for that to bear fruit.”
The questions are how long it will take for more success stories to materialize, and what Wisconsin will reap from them. And if the stats don’t improve as much as Wisconsin’s business leaders and politicians hope, what levers would be left for them to pull? These are complex questions that deserve healthy debate, and we won’t try to answer them here. But it’s a safe bet many in the state’s early-stage business community will be watching how the discussion plays out in the coming months. Democrat Tony Evers, who recently took over as governor after eight years of Republican Scott Walker at the helm, has put discussion of entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives on his agenda in the first month on the job. But it’s unclear what policies he or the Republican-controlled legislature might propose—and whether they’d agree on them.
Politics aside, the startup environment in Wisconsin is “maturing a little bit,” the Tech Council’s Daelemans claims. “We just have to make sure that we keep feeding the funnel.”
Below are Wisconsin’s 33 exits from the past five years. To clarify, we didn’t include deals in which we knew it wasn’t the first time the company changed hands. Those criteria ruled out the reported $500 million sale of OnCourse Learning to Bertelsmann last year, for example; OnCourse had been acquired at least two other times. And we didn’t include deals that didn’t involve a sale of the majority of assets, so PerBlue’s deal with GREE International Entertainment in 2016 didn’t make the list.
If we missed any, please e-mail [email protected]. [Editor’s note: This report was updated to include the purchase price of MdotLabs and the acquisition of Vonlay.]
Wisconsin Exits 2014-2018
| Company | Acquirer | Deal Value | Year | Headquarters | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NovaShield | BullGuard | Undisclosed | 2014 | Madison | Cybersecurity |
| Cedarburg Hauser Pharmaceuticals | Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI) | $41M | 2014 | Grafton | Life Sciences |
| Vonlay | Huron Consulting Group | $34.5M | 2014 | Madison | Digital Health |
| Idle Free Systems | Phillips & Temro Industries | Undisclosed | 2014 | Madison | Cleantech |
| MdotLabs | ComScore | $4.5M | 2014 | Madison | Cybersecurity |
| Hopster | Inmar | Undisclosed | 2014 | Middleton | Software |
| Connecture | IPO | $53M | 2014 | Brookfield | Digital Health |
| Vidmaker | YouTube | Undisclosed | 2014 | Madison | Software |
| TermSync | Esker | Undisclosed | 2015 | Fitchburg | Fintech |
| IOD | HealthPort | Undisclosed | 2015 | Green Bay | Digital Health |
| TeraMedica | Fujifilm Medical Systems U.S.A. | Undisclosed | 2015 | Wauwatosa | Digital Health |
| Shoutlet | Spredfast | Undisclosed | 2015 | Madison | Software |
| Modern Movement | Nautilus | Undisclosed | 2015 | Madison | Fitness Devices |
| Xolve | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | 2016 | Middleton | Materials Science |
| NeuWave Medical | Ethicon (Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) | Undisclosed | 2016 | Madison | Medical Devices |
| Alfalight | Gooch & Housego | $1.3M | 2016 | Madison | Laser Technology |
| Stratatech | Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals | $76M; up to $197M | 2016 | Madison | Life Sciences |
| Virent | Tesoro | Undisclosed | 2016 | Madison | Cleantech |
| PatientCare | DirectPath | $8.5M | 2017 | Milwaukee | Healthcare |
| Aquarius Technologies | Management | Undisclosed | 2017 | Port Washington | Wastewater Treatment |
| Agro BioSciences | Church & Dwight | $75M; up to $100M | 2017 | Wauwatosa | Agricultural Science |
| Lactic Solutions | Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits | Undisclosed | 2017 | Madison | Synthetic Biology, Energy |
| GenAlpha Technologies | Shore Points Capital, Greyrock Capital Group | Undisclosed | 2017 | Brookfield | Software |
| HarQen | Stuart Olsten (investor & board member) | Undisclosed | 2017 | Brookfield | Software |
| Lucigen | LGC | Undisclosed | 2018 | Middleton | Life Sciences |
| Cayen Systems | TransACT Communications | Undisclosed | 2018 | Milwaukee | Edtech |
| Behold.AI | Entrepreneur Simon Rasalingham | Undisclosed | 2018 | Madison | Digital Health |
| Fishidy | Flir Systems | Undisclosed | 2018 | Madison | Software |
| Shift Savings | SafetyNet (CUNA Mutual Group subsidiary) | Undisclosed | 2018 | Delafield | Fintech |
| Adorable | 8th Light | Undisclosed | 2018 | Madison | Software |
| True Process | Baxter | Undisclosed | 2018 | Glendale | Digital Health |
| MCT Digital | Gerber Technology | $3.5M+ | 2018 | New Berlin | Industrial Tech |
| Dynamis Software | Applied Systems | Undisclosed | 2018 | West Allis | Software |
| Propeller Health | ResMed | $225M | 2018 | Madison | Digital Health |
Sources: PitchBook, Wisconsin Technology Council, press releases, news articles, interviews
[Top photo by Flickr user Pictures of Money used via a Creative Commons license.]
