Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Posted by
Ray Leach
I might never get used to our year-end being in June, but here we are wrapping up our fiscal 2009 and moving into 2010.
2009 was a year of significant challenges for much of our business but also a year of a lot progress. Here are a few of the most important outcomes that we take great pride in from the past year:
- JumpStart Ventures made 13 investments -- helping to keep JumpStart as one of the most active founding-equity investors in the country
- The companies that comprise the JumpStart Ventures portfolio raised over $23 million in follow-on funding
- Our partnerships with the North Coast Angel Fund and the North Coast Opportunities Technology Fund led to an additional 8 new investments in local companies
- We successfully integrated TechLift into JumpStart's operations and delivered its services to over 400 companies
- We have helped to launch a new venture fund focused on women, minority and inner city entrepreneurs called the Emerging Market Venture Partners Fund
- And finally, we have successfully raised over $10 million in resources that will enable us to support and invest in more entrepreneurs through 2010 and 2011.
If you would like to learn more about all of our 2009 goals and meet over thirty companies that JumpStart has provided direct support and/or investment to throughout this past year, I invite you to attend our
Annual Community Meeting on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at the John S. Knight Center in Akron. This meeting promises to be a great way to learn about all that is happening at JumpStart and give our stakeholders the opportunity to engage with the JumpStart team and the companies that embody the promise of our work. We look forward to seeing you in October!
Ray Leach is CEO of JumpStart and brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron.