Slater Tech companies raise $28.2M in 2010; to release economic impact study

PROVIDENCE – State-backed venture capital fund Slater Technology Fund said its portfolio companies raised $28.2 million in new financing during the calendar year ended Dec. 31.

Eight of Slater Tech’s 23 portfolio companies raised the financing, including: NABsys, Andera, Cardiorobotics, Dynadec, ProThera Biologics, Alektrona, CytoSolv and Mofuse.

The money was primarily raised through equity financing and, to a lesser degree, federal and state grant funding, Slater Tech said in a news release on Tuesday.

“The success of portfolio companies attracting additional capital this past year is extremely encouraging,” said Richard G. Horan, senior managing director of the Slater Technology Fund.

The $28.2 million does not include the $3.9 million Slater Tech has invested in these portfolio companies through Dec. 31.

“While the investments in these companies by Slater date back, in many cases, to prior fiscal years, it nonetheless demonstrates well how catalytic investment, even in modest amount, can lead to substantially greater capital being raised. This in turn accelerates the creation of high-value, high-wage jobs, which is the ultimate goal of the strategy we are pursuing,” said Horan.

Horan noted separately that Slater is working on a broader-based economic impact study on the fund’s portfolio companies to be released in the next few weeks.

On Dec. 15, Slater announced it invested a total of $1 million in five Rhode Island-based technology ventures for the fiscal year ended June 30; two were new investments while three were follow-on funding.

Alektrona, a software and hardware developer for advanced metering infrastructure, demand side management and other energy-related applications, received $250,000 in initial funding commitments from Slater and Mnemosyne Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery venture aiming to develop small-molecule therapeutics to treat schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders, also received $250,000.

Those receiving follow-on funding from Slater included Mofuse, $150,000, bringing its total investment to $250,000; Dynadec, $100,000, total: $350,000; and RxVantage, $250,000, total: $750,000.