Thermedx, a maker of “smart” surgical irrigation products, has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for a fluid warming product that it says could help reduce risk of hypothermia. Physicians traditionally use cold surgical irrigation fluids in both inpatient and outpatient procedures, but Thermedx says the chilling liquids can triple the risk of surgical site infections and other such complications that can extend a patient’s hospital stay. By warming the fluids used to flush out wounds in surgery, for instance, the company’s new surgical irrigation device can help lower patient costs – and also improve the pace of wound healing.

June 11, 2014: The Lorain County Community College Foundation received a $3 million award from the Ohio Third Frontier's Pre-Seed Fund Capitalization Program last week for its Innovation Fund. The fund awards early-stage capital to technology-based companies across the 21 counties of Northeast Ohio so they can validate their technologies and business concepts. It's the only one administered by a community college to receive State investment.

"When the Lorain County Community College Foundation began raising money to start the Innovation Fund more than seven years ago, we had a lot to prove," said Dennis Cocco, director of operations for the Innovation Fund and co-director of the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE), the incubator that administers the fund. "No other investment group was sitting quite so early in the capital continuum, let alone a community college that was venturing into a means of economic development that wasn't the status quo. But the State of Ohio stepped up and, with confidence stemming from the college's track record, helped capitalize a new source of funding for the region's entrepreneurs."

With an initial $400,000 grant in 2007, Ohio Third Frontier helped catalyze the Innovation Fund's existence in the region. Since then, several regional partners have committed both financial and operational resources to the fund, including The University of Akron, University of Akron Research Foundation, Stark State College, Cleveland State University, Youngstown State University, Youngstown Business Incubator, and Northeast Ohio Medical University. These partners, along with the Lorain County Community College Foundation, have matched continued investments from Ohio Third Frontier, which have reached $9.5 million with this most recent award.

"The State's ongoing support of the Innovation Fund has solidified its permanence as a critical resource within Northeast Ohio's entrepreneurial ecosystem. It's the first place our region's entrepreneurs turn after they've tapped out their personal finances and friends and family to keep their businesses going and has been recognized as a required step to accessing later-stage capital programs offered by the State," Cocco said.

Using a process similar to that of an angel or venture capital investors, the Innovation Fund has averaged six funding awards for 17 continuous quarters. Since its founding, the Innovation Fund has made 153 funding awards to 127 companies totaling $8.3 million. These modest awards of up to $100,000 are coupled with intensive business assistance provided by the Innovation Fund partners.

"The Innovation Fund is about giving entrepreneurs the right amount of money at the right time and then pairing it with milestone-based mentoring that helps them prove out their technologies or business models," said Cocco. "We come in when no other investor will because the risk is too high. The Innovation Fund takes on that risk and then starts to mitigate it so these companies can bring in the additional investment that's required to accelerate their growth even more."

This approach has helped the Innovation Fund's portfolio companies attract $5.5 million in co-investments and $145 million in follow-on investment.

"For every dollar the Innovation Fund has invested, its portfolio companies have raised 19 times that amount," Cocco said. "That's a pretty impressive return-on-investment and it's just the beginning as these companies are still young and still growing."

About the Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund, founded by the Lorain County Community College Foundation, awards early-stage capital to technology-based companies in Northeast Ohio so they can validate their technologies and business concepts. The funding awards of up to $100,000 fill the capital needs of businesses that are at the earliest stage of development, before they can attract angel and venture capital funding. Funds from the Ohio Third Frontier are combined with matching support and contributions from partners to make the Innovation Fund awards. These partners include the University of Akron, the University of Akron Research Foundation, Cleveland State University, the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise, the Lorain County Community College Foundation, Stark State College, Youngstown State University, the Youngstown Business Incubator, and Northeast Ohio Medical University.

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June 3, 2014: The Innovation Fund, Northeast Ohio's most active early-stage fund for technology-based startups, announced five funding awards totaling $275,000 in its latest funding round. Three companies received $25,000 awards aimed at validating technologies and two received $100,000 awards meant to prove out business concepts.

The Innovation Fund received 33 applications this round and selected nine companies to present to the decision making committee. The rigorous application process mirrors that of an angel or venture capital investor's and helps prepare entrepreneurs to raise additional capital.

"We have perfected this process over the years, making certain it's both efficient in moving the most qualified applicants through and effective in teaching entrepreneurs how to view their companies from an investor's perspective," said Dennis Cocco, director of operations for the Innovation Fund and co-director of GLIDE, the incubator that administers the fund.

The ability to attract later-stage funding is a key factor in selecting Innovation Fund awardees. For every dollar the Innovation Fund has awarded, its portfolio companies have raised 18 times that amount.

"We don't invest a big amount of money but we invest at a critical time that enables entrepreneurs to take that small investment and prove they've got something worthy of additional investment," Cocco said.

The startups receiving Innovation Fund awards are:

Flexible ITO Solutions ($100,000 | Hartville)
Flexible ITO Solutions (FITOS) produces patterned electrodes on flexible transparent conductive films for the electronics industry. The company has developed a groundbreaking method to controllably crack the ITO conductive coatings by bending the flexible films.

Paragon Robotics ($100,000 | Euclid)
Paragon Robotics is a manufacturer of wireless data acquisition and control products that improve the energy efficiency of buildings and processes. paragonrobotics.com

Blackwolf Tactical ($25,000 | Cleveland)
Blackwolf Tactical's training platform allows police to turn any physical location into a reactive training environment triggered by the actions and decisions of the officers. Real-time analytics from every point of engagement are captured for future benchmarks and analysis.

InfoGPS ($25,000 | Mansfield)
InfoGPS is disrupting the traditional IT Risk and Security markets by using current technologies and a proprietary process to discover and enumerate sensitive information on personal networks. The company's real-time index details exactly where information assets are stored, when they move, who is accessing them, and if changes occur.

Red5Pharma ($25,000 | Cleveland)
Red5 Pharmaceuticals LLC is developing novel diagnostic assays that prospectively determine whether a patient will respond to chemotherapy. Its technology enables a personalized medicine approach to chemotherapy— the customization of patient healthcare by tailoring specific treatment decisions and practices to an individual.

With these awards, the Innovation Fund has made 153 funding awards to 127 companies totaling $8.31 million.

About the Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund, founded by the Lorain County Community College Foundation, is Northeast Ohio's most active early-stage fund. It awards technology-based startups up to $100,000 so they can validate their technologies and business concepts. The Innovation Fund averages six funding awards each quarter and fills the capital needs of businesses at the earliest stage of development, before they can attract angel and venture capital funding. Innovation Fund awards are made with funds from the Ohio Third Frontier, which have been combined with matching support and contributions from the Innovation Fund partners. These partners include the University of Akron, the University of Akron Research Foundation, Cleveland State University, the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE), the Lorain County Community College Foundation, Stark State College, Youngstown State University, the Youngstown Business Incubator, and Northeast Ohio Medical University.

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InfoGPS is disrupting the traditional IT Risk and Security markets by using current technologies and a proprietary process to discover and enumerate sensitive information on personal networks. The company’s real-time index details exactly where information assets are stored, when they move, who is accessing them, and if changes occur.

The company received a $25,000 Innovation Fund award in May 2014 and a $100,000 award in May 2015.

Website: https://www.infogpsnetworks.com/

Paragon Robotics is a manufacturer of wireless data acquisition and control products that improve the energy efficiency of buildings and processes.

The company received a $100,000 Innovation Fund award in May 2014.

website: paragonrobotics.com

SPR Therapeutics, a Highland Hills-based medical device company, is one step closer to bringing relief to people who suffer from chronic shoulder pain following a stroke. The company is the recipient of a $2.9 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health. The award – the company's third from NIH - will help fund a year-long clinical trial underway for the Smartpatch peripheral nerve stimulation system, for the treatment of post-stroke shoulder pain.

We started BoxCast in the basement of a newly converted convent in West Park - "Love you St Mel's" - but quickly outgrew our space.  . . . Northeast Ohio's fast-growing ecosystem of entrepreneurial support has made a big difference for us. It's impossible to acknowledge all the organizations that have helped us without sounding like an Academy Awards acceptance speech. Among other standouts that have to be mentioned: The Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE) sparked us with some initial funding and JumpStart's guidance and funding fueled our initial flight.  The Burton D. Morgan Foundation, Blackstone, and many other noncompensated advisors and mentors have been with us every step of the way.

Wearable health devices such as Fitbit and Withings are getting lots of buzz, but a Woodridge-based company is betting that implantables will really save lives. Endotronix Inc. developed a wireless sensor that measures pulmonary artery pressure from within the heart. The patient holds up a device about the size of an iPad Mini to his or her chest for about 15 seconds; the device measures the pressure and sends the information to the person's health care provider.

For initial funding, Lix put his name in the running for a $25,000 grant from the Lorain County Community College Innovation Fund, a pre-seed funding program that uses government and private funding to support early-stage, technology-based businesses. The grant made it possible for Lix to relocate to a laboratory housed at a manufacturing incubator, a move that not only gave him a controlled testing environment, but also provided access to in-house engineers whose expertise he could use.

The Blackstone LaunchPad is a national model for fostering entrepreneurship through higher education. It encourages entrepreneurial thinking and activity among undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and alumni for the purpose of incubating a new generation of entrepreneurs. The first LaunchPad debuted at the University of Miami, and it has now spread to other campuses including Case Western Reserve University, Baldwin Wallace, Kent State University and Lorain County Community College.