[June 12, 2014]

Northeast Ohio Companies and Funds Awarded $17M by Ohio Third Frontier

Three companies and five funds from Northeast Ohio collectively won $17M in funding from two Ohio Third Frontier programs. This funding will enable high tech companies in the region to continue to grow and create jobs.

The Commercial Acceleration Loan Fund supports the move of products and services into meaningful market entry. Northeast Ohio companies awarded funds through the competitive process include:

- CerviLenz Inc., which won $2M, has developed an innovative medical device to help identify and manage pregnant women at high risk for preterm birth.

- Echogen Power Systems LLC, which won $1.5M, is developing and commercializing a proprietary heat recovery system for use in new market applications.

- MAR Systems Inc., which won $645,000, has developed a faster, cheaper, greener solution for the removal of heavy metal contaminants from water.

All three have received support from JumpStart and other investors or service providers in the regions.

The Pre-seed Fund Captalization Program increases the availability of professionally managed capital and services to accelerate the growth of early-stage Ohio technology companies. These Northeast Ohio investment funds were collectively awarded $12.8M:

- Impact Angel Fund, LLC. Collaborators on the proposal were: JumpStart, TechGROWTH Ohio, Innovation Forward, LLC and 28 individual investors.

- Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Collaborators were Parker Hannifin Corporation, ProMedica, JumpStart, BioEnterprise Corporation, North Coast Angel Fund II and Case Western Reserve University.

- North Coast Angel Fund III. Collaborators were JumpStart, BioEnterprise, Cleveland Clinic Innovations and 47 individual investors.

- Bizdom Fund. Collaborators were Rock Ventures and The Quicken Loans Family of Companies.

- Lorain County Community College Foundation. The collaborator was Great Lakes Innovation & Development Center.

Says Jon Elsasser, Fund Manager of the Impact Angel Fund, a new fund based in Stark County: "Receiving the Third Frontier matching award is an important component of the effort to foster entrepreneurism and create new businesses and economic growth in our multi-county region. JumpStart played a key role in developing our proposal and building the credibility of our operational capacity and quality of deal flow."

JUMPSTART INC. JumpStart is committed to strengthening the economy through entrepreneurship. The nonprofit has been accelerating the successes of diverse entrepreneurs, their high growth companies and the ecosystems that support them since 2004. For more information, visit www.jumpstartinc.org and follow @JumpStartInc on Twitter (News - Alert).

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