ION Venture Forum Attracts Top National Investors Looking for Local Deals
VC Survey: Almost Half of Attendees Have Not Invested in Georgia Companies
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) November 2, 2006
Fifteen of the most promising technology companies from Georgia gave presentations to over 100 venture capitalists from across the nation at the ION Venture Forum (www. ionventureforum. com) on October 18.
The annual investor showcase, presented by the Atlanta CEO Council, attracted many investors who do not have active investments in local companies. According to a survey of attending venture capitalists, 44 percent said they did not have a Georgia-based company in their investment portfolio. However, 85 percent said they plan on visiting the area at least once a quarter. Sixty-eight percent come to Georgia once a month looking for potential investments.
"Now in its fifth year, the ION Venture Forum continues to be the premier event in the South that connects national investors with the best local technology companies," said Ashish Mistry, president of the Atlanta CEO Council. "The Atlanta CEO Council has stepped up its efforts to promote Georgia-based companies to VCs who have not invested in our market."
Presenting companies represented a spectrum of Georgia's technology markets, including: enterprise software, digital media, communications infrastructure, financial services, business intelligence and healthcare IT. According to the survey of attending VCs, 88 percent of investors said they are interested in investing money in information technology companies. Other areas of interest include business services (55 percent), healthcare services (41 percent), and life sciences (13 percent).
Companies presenting at the forum included: ThePort Network (theport. com), Emcien (emcien. com), ContactAtOnce! (contactatonce. com), Vendormate (vendormate. com), BroadRiver (broadriver. com), ICM Corporation (icm-corporation. com), Recordant (recordant. com), RentBureau (rentbureau. com), Nexidia (nexidia. com), Rentmoney (rentmoney. com/), IDology (idology. com), Broadband National (broadbandnational. com), Invirtus (invirtus. com), Hotel Booking Solutions (hotelbookingsolutions. com), and Trusted Network Technologies (trustednetworktech. com).
"The ION Venture Forum gave us a unique opportunity to present our business opportunity before a distinguished audience of VCs," said Radhika Subramanian, president & CEO of Emcien, a provider of solutions that address product complexity issues within the supply chain. "This event is a wonderful resource for Georgia-based technology companies looking to raise capital."
The forum also presented a unique opportunity for investors to get a first look at the technologies being developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) and VentureLab facilities, which act as incubators for Georgia entrepreneurs to launch successful science and technology companies. This event was open to a select number of VCs and took place October 17, prior to the Forum.
Two companies featured at this sneak peak event were selected by investors to present at the Forum after participating in an accelerated matching session. These companies were Evoca, which offers instant conversion of. wav sound files to MP3 format, and Lumoflex, which has developed a technology integrating low-cost solar cells with rechargeable batteries.
Details regarding the 2007 ION Venture Forum will be available soon online at www. ionventureforum. com.
About the Atlanta CEO Council
The Atlanta CEO Council is an exclusive organization for C-Level and senior executives that has been serving the community since 1999. The Council membership is comprised of more than 1000 CEOs and senior executives (CIOs, CFOs, COOs, CTOs,) from leading technology and related companies from across the Southeast. The Atlanta CEO Council focuses on the strategic development and support of the technology community in the metro Atlanta area. Members of the Atlanta CEO Council represent companies that employ more than 50,000 people in the Atlanta region and generate over $10 billion in direct annual revenue for the local economy.
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