FA L L 2 0 1 8
FALL 2018 i&E 1
Comprised of over 150 Oklahoma corporations and business groups, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable serves as the state’s primary economic development support organization. We are a collaborative non-profit group whose sole purpose is advancing Oklahoma’s economic development. We support programs that focus on business start-up, expansion, recruitment and workforce development. Created in 1991, the Roundtable has supported hundreds of state, national and global business promotion activities – resulting in thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in corporate investment throughout Oklahoma. Our members are committed to the growth and diversification of our state’s economy.
We invite you to join us in our efforts! Contact us today.
PRESIDENT/CEO Ann Ackerman, Ph. D. OklahOma Business ROundtaBle 655 ReseaRch PaRkway, suite 420 OklahOma city, OklahOma 73104 | 405-235-3787 www.okbusinessroundtable.com 2 i&E FALL 2018
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP ADVANCING OKLAHOMA’S ECONOMY
Model of Success 6 Oklahoma’s ‘Innovation Model’ began with creation of OCAST in 1988 Randy Goldsmith 8 i2E’s first CEO brought structure and methodology to the newly formed company Greg Main 10 i2E’s second CEO implemented the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund and a statewide collegiate business plan competition Tom Walker 12 As i2E’s third CEO, Walker found news sources of critical investment capital Oklahoma startups needed to flourish Milestones Along the Way 14 A graphic look at how i2E evolved from its 1998 launch to become today’s Oklahoma leader for advising and investing in startups Scott Meacham 16 i2E’s fourth CEO has led an evolution into becoming a leading source of revenue for Oklahoma high growth startups Startup Story 18 i2E can trace its roots to a simple question of ‘what are we missing? Long Road to Success 20 It took more than 14 years, but the team at Selexys Pharmaceuticals delivered on the foresight of Dr. Rodger McEver Down the Entrepreneur’s Path 22 Kenneth Knoll describes how a class on entrepreneurship and an i2E-managed business plan competition shaped his career
innovators & Entrepreneurs is produced by i2E, Inc., manager of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. For more information on any content contained herein, please contact i2E at 405-235-2305. © Copyright 2018 i2E, Inc. All rights reserved.
Expectations Exceeded 24 A pair of former i2E Chairmen of the Board talk about how i2E has surpassed all expectations in helping grow Oklahoma’s economy Oklahomans Innovate 26 Take a look at some of the amazing technologies and high growth companies that are emerging in Oklahoma with i2E’s influence
i2E TEAM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The i2E management and staff is composed of professionals with extensive experience in technology commercialization, business development, venture investing, finance, organizational.
Stephen Prescott Chairman OMRF
Scott Meacham President & CEO
Leslie Batchelor Roy Williams Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Center for Economic Development Law Richard Williamson T.D. Williamson Howard G. Barnett, Jr. Duane Wilson OSU-Tulsa, OSU-CHS LDW Services, LLC Jay Calhoun Apis Holdings PARTNERS Michael Carolina The Oklahoma Experimental Program to OCAST Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Steve Cropper Cherokee Nation Carl Edwards Price Edwards Company Chickasaw Nation
Rex Smitherman Senior Vice President, Operations Sarah Seagraves Senior Vice President, Marketing Mark Lauinger Senior Vice President, Client Services Ryan Cargill Vice President of Business Development Tom Francis Director of Funds Administration Judy Beech Director of Finance Carol Curtis Venture Advisor & Director of Academic Research Assessment Richard Rainey Venture Advisor & Director, SBRA Program Stacey Brandhorst Venture Advisor & Director of Venture Outreach Malachi Blankenship Business Development Manager & Venture Advisor Darcy Wilborn Client Engagement Director Melissa Kempkes Investment Portfolio Manager Cindy Williams Henson Underwriting Coordinator & Investment Compliance Officer Katelynn Henderson Events Specialist
Darryl Schmidt BancFirst Craig Shimasaki Moleculera Labs
Mark Poole Vice Chair First National Bank of Broken Arrow
Brien Thorstenberg Tulsa Regional Chamber
Michael LaBrie Secretary McAfee & Taft
Rose Washington Tulsa Economic Development Corporation
Tom Evans Encompass Financial Services, Inc.
Choctaw Nation
Philip Eller Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Eller Detrich, P.C. Love’s Travel Stops Chris Fleming RECHO, LLC Muscogee(Creek) Nation Cheryl Hill Oklahoma Business Roundtable Hill Manufacturing/Hill Equipment Danny Hilliard Chickasaw Nation
Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST)
Ronnie Irani Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance RKI Energy Resources Joseph J. Ferretti University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Presbyterian Health Foundation
U.S. Economic Development Administration Brad Krieger Arvest Bank Philip Kurtz CareATC Hershel Lamirand III Capital Development Strategies
Merl Lindstrom Shaun O'Fair Underwriting Specialist Fred Morgan The State Chamber Kate Nelson Client Services Coordinator David Pitts Bank SNB Jennifer Buettner Executive Assistant Ryan Posey HSI Sensing Teresa Rose Crook Communities Foundation of Oklahoma Meg Salyer Accel Financial Staffing Claudia San Pedro Sonic Corporation
4 i&E FALL 2018
www.i2E.org
facebook.com/i2E
facebook.com/lovescup twitter.com/i2E_Inc
ABOUT i2E WE INVEST IN ENTREPRENEURS TO BUILD SUCCESSFUL HIGH GROWTH OKLAHOMA COMPANIES Over our 20-year history, i2E’s nationally recognized services have provided business expertise and funding to over 700 of Oklahoma’s emerging small businesses. With more than $60 million of investment capital under management, we are focused on serving companies in all phases of the business life cycle, from startups looking for their first round of capital all the way to established businesses seeking funding to expand their markets or products. We also help lead new business developments into the marketplace more efficiently and more quickly while providing guidance to bring more funding to Oklahoma’s researchers and entrepreneurs. Through our proven business and venture development process, we turn ideas into successful enterprises ... i2E.
W H AT W E D O • Evaluate the market potential of new concepts • Assist with evaluation of business plans, marketing plans and raising capital • Provide guidance in building a management team, business structure and financial forecasting • Assist with developing an effective investor presentation • Assist in obtaining funding through federal grant programs
Welcome from Scott Meacham To readers of this publication, you are holding the pages of history in your hands. Throughout 2018, i2E is celebrating its 20th year of existence – two full decades of helping advance Oklahoma’s economy by assisting entrepreneurs grow successful high-growth startups. I invite you to start at the beginning on Page 6 and read about our state partner, the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), and discover how the “Oklahoma Innovation Model” has evolved over the years. Beginning on Page 7 and running throughout the magazine are short profiles of some of the many successful companies whom i2E has mentored and funded over the past 20 years. Many have had successful exits over the past two decades. It’s an impressive list of startups that continues to grow in 2018. Randy Goldsmith (page 8) was i2E’s first chief executive officer, taking the helm when it was launched in 1998 as the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center, bringing structure and methodology to the young company. The late Greg Main (page10) followed in 2003, applying the same disciplined approach to i2E that he did as Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce just a few years before. Tom Walker (page 12) became i2E’s third CEO in 2008, but he was no newcomer to the organization. Tom was a founding employee back in 1998 and expanded our capacity to offer investment capital to Oklahoma companies. I became i2E’s fourth CEO in 2013 (page 16) after being recruited to i2E’s Board of Directors by Tom Walker. In the five years I’ve had the pleasure to serve i2E, we have evolved from an advisory to a capital company that today has over $60 million in investment capital under management. The story behind the story of how i2E came into existence begins on Page 18. We also profile the scientist behind the successful Selexys Pharmaceuticals (page 20), as well as a first-person story from Kenneth Knoll, who points to i2E as a defining influence on his career. Beginning on Page 24, two of our past Board Chairmen assess the impact that i2E has had on the state’s startup community and economy. And don’t miss the special presentation of some our emerging client companies on page 26. I encourage you to dive right into this magazine and read all about the history of this great organization.
• Work with research universities to encourage commercialization of research technologies • Provide grant capital assistance and equity investment
– Scott Meacham President & CEO
THE MODEL OF SUCCESS OKLAHOMA’S INNOVATION MODEL BEGAN WITH CREATION OF OCAST IN 1988
T
he creation of OCAST as a state agency promoting science and technology in 1988 established the foundation for what eventually became the Oklahoma Innovation Model. Carolyn Sales was founding executive director of the agency. Now, 30 years later, Sales recalled the process from which OCAST emerged. With the state mired deep in an economic slump brought on by the 1980s oil bust, the state legislature took steps to encourage scientific research, technology transfer and technology commercialization in the state. The Oklahoma Council on Science and Technology was established by Gov. George Nigh in 1983. That was followed by the creation of a Science and Technology Division at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. Then, in 1987, legislation was passed that created the state agency that became OCAST. “Basically, the Department of Commerce’s Science and Technology division was spun off as the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of
6 i&E FALL 2018
Science and Technology,” Sales said. OCAST’s mission was diversifying Oklahoma’s economy by supporting R&D, facilitating the transfer of new technologies so that new products and processes can be commercialized, and fostering the manufacturing and marketing of these new innovative technologies by new or existing Oklahoma businesses. “OCAST’s strategies emphasized the need for sustained, collaborative effort among the university research community, Oklahoma businesses and state government,” Sales said. Over the past three decades, OCAST’s cumulative return-on-investment of state dollars is 22 to 1, meaning $22 has been returned to the state through grants, sales or investment for every $1 appropriated. The state has invested $285 million and OCAST has returned $6.5 billion with 15,658 jobs created or retained. Part of OCAST’s success stems from the development of the Oklahoma Innovation Model which includes OCAST, i2E, the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance (OMA) and the New Product Development Center (NPDC) at Oklahoma State University. Within five years of OCAST’s creation, the OMA was established as a not-for-profit organization to provide support to small and medium manufacturers across the state. i2E was created in 1998 to support innovative new businesses by working directly with entrepreneurs, researchers and companies to help them commercialize their technologies, launch and grow new businesses and access needed capital. In 2008, the current form of the NPDC joined the Oklahoma Innovation Model by providing early stage engineering support and pairing Oklahoma’s small manufacturers with OSU faculty, staff and students to help develop the manufacturer’s new product concepts. “The Oklahoma Innovation Model has historically been very successful,” executive director for OCAST, Michael Carolina said. “We see it through the growth of companies like Amethyst Research Inc. (ARI) and many others across our state.”
“We decided to locate in Oklahoma because of the positive attitude of the state toward high tech research and development. OCAST and i2E played pivotal roles in our decision to be in Oklahoma.” – Terry Golding When it was founded in 2004 as an Ardmore, OK-based company with a mission of developing ultra-high performance infrared detectors, ARI quickly turned to the Oklahoma Innovation Model’s resources to support its growth. “We decided to locate in Oklahoma because of the positive attitude of the state toward high tech research and development,” according to cofounder and CEO Terry Golding, Ph.D., OCAST and i2E played pivotal roles in our decision to be in Oklahoma.” ARI sought support from OCAST’s Oklahoma Applied Resource Support (OARS) program. Overall, Amethyst? has received 30 Phase I awards and 13 Phase II awards in the federal SBIR program. ARI also has employed two interns provided through OCASTs Intern Partnership program. Amethyst Research expanded its business model after participating in i2E’s Proof of Concept Center program (which has evolved into the Venture Assessment Program).
And Rob Kuester, now ARI’s operations manager, wrote a business plan for ARI as a student at the University of Central Oklahoma and competed in the former Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup, now the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup, competition managed by i2E. Kuester was hired as the first non-scientist employee of ARI in 2006. The OMA provided expertise in configuration of equipment when it moved from a business incubator operated by the Southern Oklahoma Development Association into its own laboratory facilities. OMA focuses on improving the bottom line for client companies through concepts like Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, while growing the entire company through new product development, strategic planning and expanded markets. Early in its existence, ARI explored a working relationship with the NPDC before ultimately deciding to keep its R&D in house. Today, ARI has grown into a large R&D company with laboratories in Ardmore and Austin, Texas. It employs 19 people – many of them Ph.D.-level scientists. And ARI’s mission has grown, as well. The company’s business focus now includes infrared detector device design, materials growth and analytical capabilities. In 2016 Amethyst began work in shale characterization technologies to broaden its market presence into the oil and gas industries. These recent shale activities have been funded in part by OCAST OARS and the US Department of Energy. The bottom line: multiple resources from the Oklahoma Innovation Model contributed to ARI’s growth. “The convergent point is innovation,” Carolina said. It all adds up to a unique Oklahoma Innovation Model that is stimulating innovation across the state, resulting in new businesses and job creation.
OKLAHOMANS INNOVAT ING i2E C L I ENT C O M PA N IE S 4D Sales 4DSales is a tablet based application specifically designed by sales professionals to easily serve up product details and marketing information. Access Optics Access Optics designs and manufactures precision and micro-scale optics for healthcare, defense and industrial applications. Advanced Academics, Inc. Acquired in 2007 by DeVry Inc.
AAI provided online course instruction using highly qualified teachers and a proprietary technology platform specifically designed for secondary education. Agric-Bioformatics Agric-Bioformatics offers a proprietary software platform for easy interpretation of complicated genomic testing for the cattle industry. Alkami Technology Alkami delivers innovative digital banking solutions that are thoughtfully conceived, beautifully designed and intelligently delivered. Amethyst Research Incorporated Amethyst Research Inc. provides effective, efficient opto-electric materials, services and device technology. Benefit Informatics, Inc. Acquired in 2010 by BenefitFocus
Benefit Informatics provided a technology platform to shop, enroll, manage and exchange employee benefits all in one place. BioLytx Biolytx is developing a class of novel antibiotic peptides for use in treatments of ophthalmic wound care and serious hospital-acquired infections. FALL 2018 i&E 7
i2E LEADERSHIP
1998-2003 Randy Goldsmith GOLDSMITH PIONEERED ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT AS i2E’S FOUNDING CEO
As i2E’s inaugural CEO, Randy Goldsmith’s initial challenge was to hire a staff and get the corporation then known as the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center up and running. “We quickly became a team that was excited about our mission and with the belief we could change Oklahoma,” Goldsmith recalled. “As we opened our doors, the Dot Com boom was on our threshold. New venture opportunities poured in the door.” The Tech Center applied a “well designed and structured methodology” to providing assistance to Oklahoma’s new ventures. But something was missing from the equation. Investment capital. So, the Technology Business Finance Program (TBFP) was created, which stimulated the creation of angel investment groups throughout the state. An audit of the TBFP by the Battelle Memorial Institute two years after it debuted showed that it was so effective that Battelle declared it to be the national model for technology-based economic development for the entire country. “With that recognition, several states began adopting our model,” Goldsmith said. “But more importantly, we were launching exciting companies in Oklahoma while establishing a sustainable infrastructure for new venture formation.”
8 i&E FALL 2018
In 2003, Goldsmith moved on from i2E and today is founder and director of Rapamycin Holdings, a San Antonio, Texasbased venture to prevent progression of bladder and prostate cancers. He takes pride in what i2E has become over the first two decades of its history. “What i2E has accomplished far exceeds what I could ever have imagined,” he said. “I see it like a parent who had high hopes
for their child but never imagined it would accomplish such lofty goals.” i2E’s future is just as promising, he said. “I continue to believe that as long as the innate spirit of entrepreneurship courses through the imagination and heart of the organization, it will always be relevant to the new venture goals of Oklahoma,” he said. “i2E is and can continue to be an essential component to support economic growth.”
i 2 E C L I E N T C O M PA N I E S BlyncSync Technologies BlyncSync offers a proprietary safety software platform designed to address the increasing problem of fatigue related accidents in the trucking industry.
“What i2E has accomplished far exceeds what I could ever have imagined,” he said. “I see it like a parent who had high hopes for their child but never imagined it would accomplish such lofty goals.” – Randy Goldsmith
CareATC CareATC® provides customizable healthcare solutions and leverages evidence-based medicine within an integrated population health management ecosystem. Charlesson, LLC Charlesson is developing therapeutics for treatment of debilitating ophthalmic diseases. Clear River Enviro, Inc. Clear River Enviro has developed a proprietary hospital and surgery-based technology used to destroy unused DEA Controlled Substances (opioids) and EPA regulated pharmaceuticals. COARE Biotech COARE Biotechnology is developing novel therapeutic technologies aimed at eradicating cancer stem cells and associated metastatic process. Crescendo Bioscience Acquired in 2014 by Myriad Genetics
Crescendo Bioscience provided quantitative, objective molecular diagnostics testing to provide rheumatologists with deeper clinical insights into biology. Cytovance Biologics, LLC Acquired in 2015 by Hepalink
Cytovance Biologics is a biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer specializing in cGMP production of therapeutic proteins and antibodies. Datebox Datebox is a monthly subscription service that provides a novel date night activity and related conversation topics for people in committed relationships. FALL 2018 i&E 9
i2E LEADERSHIP
2003-2008
Greg Main
MAIN IMPLEMENTED OKLAHOMA SEED CAPITAL FUND, STATEWIDE COLLEGIATE BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION Greg Main served as i2E’s second president, succeeding founding CEO Randy Goldsmith in 2003. Under Main’s leadership, i2E implemented the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund and the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan and pitch competition. Main stepped down as i2E’s CEO in 2008 and subsequently served as president of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. before being appointed as 15th president of St. Gregory’s University in 2011. He retired as St. Gregory’s President in 2016 and fought a long battle with cancer before passing away 10 i&E FALL 2018
in June 2017. “Greg was part of Oklahoma’s economic development landscape for over two decades,” said former i2E president Tom Walker. “One of the projects I recall his being especially proud of was the creation of the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund. The fact is that the legislation had been passed in the 1990’s but was never funded. Greg deserves the credit for working with OCAST, Governor Brad Henry’s office and the Legislature to fund and create the first Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund. That one accomplishment impacted numerous people in Oklahoma.”
i 2 E C L I E N T C O M PA N I E S
“Greg had a natural instinct and skill for navigating the political environment with grace and savvy. He was always the gentleman.” – Randy Goldsmith
A native of Belding, Michigan, Main was recruited to Oklahoma in 1991 to serve as secretary of Commerce in the David Walters administration. During his tenure at Commerce, he developed the Quality Jobs Act, an incentive program for job growth that remains in effect today. Main’s wife, Barbara, said he was especially proud of the Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan and pitch competition, which has awarded more than $1 million in prize money to Oklahoma college students from across the state. “He loved i2E,” Barbara Main said. “He thought it was a great opportunity. Greg was the kind of person who took on every new challenge with enthusiasm and a positive attitude and tried to do the best possible job for every step that he took. He really thought that i2E had a tremendous impact on the city and the state. He was really proud of i2E and what it could do and how it helped the young entrepreneurs and businesses. He really loved the Governor’s Cup and worked hard on that with Sarah (Seagraves). Really, that was dear to his heart.“ Added i2E’s founding president and CEO, Randy Goldsmith: “Greg had a natural instinct and skill for navigating the political environment with grace and savvy. He was always the gentleman.”
DEHA, LLC DEHA, LLC aims to develop small molecule inhibitors that will be beneficial to traumatic brain injury and stroke patients. Digital Six Laboratories, LLC Digital 6 Labs provides engineered wireless IoT solutions and components for commercial and industrial markets. DNA Solutions DNA Solutions provides fast, reliable DNA testing to determine human relationships, animal genetics and to solve forensic mysteries. Drik, LLC Drik is a pre-clinical toxicology services laboratory for drug safety evaluation. Driven Analytics Driven Analytics, Inc. leverages technology to help businesses across the automotive value chain better engage with their customers. EpimedX EpimedX is developing novel therapeutics for treatment of sickle cell disease, beta-thalassemia and malaria. Exaptive, Inc. Exaptive is a software platform that enables organizations to develop data analytics at the cost of off-the-shelf products. Exerbotics Acquired in 2015 by The Exercise Coach
Exerbotics developed new technology for commercial strength training utilizing robotics and isokinetic strength training equipment. Expert TA Expert TA is an online homework and tutorial system that uses human-like grading capabilities, context-rich problems and customized hints to improve student learning. FALL 2018 i&E 11
2008-2012 Tom Walker
i2E LEADERSHIP
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS THAT STILL IMPACT OKLAHOMA Tom Walker was there at the beginning of i2E in 1998, designing its innovative business advisory programs and inspiring entrepreneurs all across the state. “I’m real proud of creating the services that we did, being part of the first angel groups in the state, and starting the first seed capital program,” said Walker, who served as executive vice president, chief operating officer and, eventually, president and CEO during his 14 years with i2E. “All of those things, I was right there, a part of and am proud of.” Walker counts being part of the founding i2E team and proving skeptics wrong about i2E’s potential among his top memories. “In the early days there was a great deal of excitement but there was also a great deal of skepticism in the market,” Walker said. “I will never forget a prominent VC in Oklahoma City telling me in a public setting that i2E wouldn’t last 10 years. I’m very proud he was wrong. Think of the companies that would not have been funded if that were the case.” During his tenure as i2E President & CEO, Walker launched two investment programs – the SeedStep Angels group and the Accelerate Oklahoma! Fund – that today are still providing critical capital to Oklahoma entrepreneurs.
Accelerate Oklahoma! Fund 12 i&E FALL 2018
i 2 E C L I E N T C O M PA N I E S
"I felt the Treasury program was perfect for Oklahoma because we needed the capital to help companies grow" – Tom Walker
The SeedStep Angels group was launched in 2009 at a time when there was virtually no formal Angel investment in Oklahoma. Today, there are more than 50 members of the SeedStep Angels in Oklahoma City, Ardmore, Tulsa and Muskogee. A couple of years later, serendipity played a role in another investment opportunity. Walker was in Washington, D.C., for a national governors conference when he heard a presentation about a funding program through the U.S. Treasury Department. The program was administered in Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. “Since I was in D.C., I went right over to Treasury and learned about it,” he said. “It so happened that Commerce Director Dave Lopez was also in D.C., and I had a chance to visit with him.” It wasn’t long before i2E made a formal proposal and eventually was awarded $13 million that it used to create the Accelerate Oklahoma! funds. “I felt the Treasury program was perfect for Oklahoma because we needed the capital to help companies grow,” he said. Although Walker left i2E in 2012 to become president and CEO of TechColumbus (now Rev1 Ventures) in Ohio, his contributions continue to be felt in many areas of i2E’s operation. “I drove tens of thousands of miles all over Oklahoma during my tenure at i2E, talking to entrepreneurs and investors in every portion of the state,” Walker said. “I drove the Turner Turnpike so often that I treated our road bumps as landmarks.”
GradeScale Gradescale has developed a data analytics tool for colleges and universities to utilize to improve student scholastic performance to increase retention rates. ICEdot Acquired in 2018 by Specialized Bicycle Components
ICEdot has developed an emergency notification platform securely stores and transmits emergency information which is linked to Crash Sensor technology within bike helmets. Immuno-Mycologics, Inc. IMMY manufactures high-quality diagnostics for fungal diseases. Inoveon Corporation Acquired in 2011 by Systems AG
Inoveon is a medical services company that delivers solutions to detect, stage and monitor diseases affecting the eye.
iRecommend Software iRecommend is the next-generation recommendation engine built on artificial intelligence and machine learning to leverage available big data from thousands of data feeds. Levate, LLC Levate is developing an easy-to-use, rechargeable battery operated lift as an add-on accessory for manual wheelchair users. Lifetone Lifetone's technologies drive the convergence of home security, safety and health monitoring using proprietary platforms, advanced signal processing and the Internet. Linear Health Sciences Linear Health Sciences is seeking FDA regulatory approval for a new breakaway technology for IV lines and catheter tubes.
FALL 2018 i&E 13
A year later, staff realized that the entrepreneurs had one thing in common. Through OCAST, the state legislature funded the Technology Business Finance Program, a proof-of-concept fund created specifically to address the early stage capital needs of technology-based businesses.
1999
STATE SUPPORTS ENTREPRENEURS
INNOVATION
2004
FOSTERING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS
The organization opened the doors for business as a public/private partnership with the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). The mission was to assist the entrepreneurial community in growing Oklahoma’s technology-based economy.
The Oklahoma Angel Fund I is a seed stage, early stage and growth stage capital fund that assists companies I2E SPREADS THEIR WINGS with initial funding and funding for expansion into new products and/or new markets.
2015
i2E hosted the first Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? workshop sponsored by Oklahoma EPSCoR. This annual event is open to college entrepreneurs, students, and faculty who want to learn how to start their own business.
2013 2015
EXPLORING THE PROUCT/MARKET FIT
The Venture Assessment Program helps entrepreneurs perform market analysis and investigate the commercial opportunity of their business.
i2E manages the Oklahoma Bioscience Association which promotes the growth of biosciences across the state through partnership building, education and outreach, networking, policy development and publicity.
2017
GROWING JOBS IN RURAL OKLAHOMA
2016
SPREADING THE LOVE
Since 2005, i2E has been supporting entrepreneurship at the collegiate level through our annual business plan competition, now known as the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup, named for our locally owned signature sponsor, Love’s Travel Stops. 14 i&E FALL 2018
Through a U.S. EDA grant with matching funds from Oklahoma’s four largest Native American tribes, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable, and OCAST, the GrowOK program is designed to explore the product/market fit of a new business concept for Rural Oklahomans.
i2E was invited to manage Oklahoma’s Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition. The competition is designed to expose students to real world experiences, enhance their entrepreneurial skills, and introduce them to the option of starting their own businesses.
The Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund (OSCF) is an early stage fund that targets new and existing Oklahoma companies looking to move into a new product or market. OSCF is a state appropriated investment fund provided through OCAST.
2007
2005
INCREASING CAPITAL SUCCESS
STUDENT ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT
In collaboration with the Greater OKC Chamber, we work together to enhance programs that support the growth of Oklahoma Entrepreneurs, high growth companies and innovation-based industries.
2008
FINDING THE RIGHT PARTNERS
2009 i2E GETS ITS WINGS
2011
ACCELERATING OKLAHOMA START UPS
2011
RAISING THE STANDARDS
i2E was the first Oklahoma organization to receive the Standards for Excellence certification for non-profits by the Standards for Excellence Institute.
Accelerate Oklahoma! Fund is a U.S. Treasury initiative that offers critical capital and co-investment for Oklahoma entrepreneurs at specific stages of their companies’ lifecycles.
SeedStep Angels is a network of Accredited Oklahoma Investors who provide capital, strategic advice and mentoring to emerging growth companies.
ENTERPRISE Since 2001, twelve i2E clients and their technologies have been acquired by strategic industry partners accelerating these Oklahoma based products and services to reach global markets. Almost all of these companies continue operations in Oklahoma. FALL 2018 i&E 15
i2E LEADERSHIP
2013-Present Scott Meacham I
am the latest “caretaker” of the uniquely Oklahoma phenomenon known as i2E. What started as an idea to diversify Oklahoma’s economy has know grown into a primary engine driving Oklahoma’s economy of the future. The recent downturn in energy prices has proven Oklahoma’s economy is finally becoming more diversified and, at the same time, has proven the initial concept behind i2E. However, we have become much more. I have had the pleasure of serving as the President/CEO of i2E since January 1, 2013. I will never forget my first meeting with i2E’s senior staff before I started work. Sarah Seagraves, our Senior Vice President of Marketing, who has been with i2E almost since day one and is unofficially our heart and soul, asked me point blank, “why would you want to work for i2E” as if that was somehow a step down from my prior jobs of bank CEO, State Treasurer and Chair of the Banking and Financial Institutions Practice Group at Crowe and Dunlevy. My response was very simple, “why not i2E?” I had never heard of i2E until becoming Secretary of Finance and Revenue under Governor Henry. After spending countless hours working on ways to grow Oklahoma’s economy and create more jobs, I was immediately attracted to i2E’s mission of growing new high-growth companies in Oklahoma because no one was spending any time or resources on this level of economic development. We spent millions trying to attract or retain jobs from established, large
employers and had the Quality Jobs Program that helped grow jobs among smaller existing employers, but no one other than i2E was trying to help high growth startups. After leaving office, i2E President/CEO Tom Walker recruited me first to be on the i2E
Board and, then, to chair one of i2E’s investment committees. After deeper involvement with i2E, I became a true disciple. Maybe Tom knew what he was doing when he recruited me to the Board because when he left i2E, the
Oklahoma Angel Fund
16 i&E FALL 2018
Board asked me to take the helm. With the support of a fantastic Board, we have moved from being a service company with a little capital to a capital company that provides services. We have over $60 million under management and are investing over $6 million per year in 10-12 Oklahoma high-growth companies per year. We have streamlined our operations and managed cuts in our state contract of over 38% without dropping service levels. We have launched programs such as the Venture Assessment Program to determine product-market fit and likely competitive response to new concepts before engaging companies as a client. Significantly, we experienced our first two big exits with the acquisitions of our portfolio companies, WeGoLook and Selexys. In 20 years we have helped our clients create more than 3,200 new jobs and assisted more than 700 Oklahoma startups. If we have learned anything in 20 years, it is that the needs of our state are always changing and we must adapt as an organization to meet those needs. After being the architect of Oklahoma’s burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem, we must adapt to a number of new “startup” entrepreneurial support organizations. After building one of the nation’s premier proof of concept systems to prove the market viability of new Oklahoma companies, we must find them the capital to scale nationally and internationally. I can’t wait to see what the next 20 years has in store for i2E.
i2E CLIENT COMPANIES >
PAY 73% HIGHER WAGES than state average.
Report paying more than
$700,000,000 IN PAYROLL. Are growing at an average of
29% ANNUALLY. 3283
1000+
Full Time Equivalent Employees
All New Products Introduced
BY INDUSTRY Life Science 24%
>
600+
New Patents Issued
BY GEOGRAPHY
15% Other 11% Energy & Environment 6% Subassemblies & Components 4% Advanced Materials
IT/Software 40%
122
Balance of State
357
>
226 Tulsa
OKC
Since 1999, i2E has managed eight early stage investment funds, making
274 investments totaling over $52 million to 165 unique companies.
i2E has
$25,000,000
available for investment in Oklahoma companies.
FALL 2018 i&E 17
FOR OKLAHOMA, i2E MAKES THE DREAMS OF ENTREPRENEURS A REALITY Creation of i2E in 1998 helped fill void for business advisory, access-to-capital needs of Oklahoma entrepreneurs
M
"I am personally proud of i2E. It has always creatively been looking for that next step, that next thing that needs to be done and finding very, very creative ways to meet new challenges, to not remain static." – Sheri Stickley
18 i&E FALL 2018
ore than two decades ago, Sheri Stickley looked across the economic development landscape of Oklahoma and asked a question: “What are we missing?” Stickley then director of the Technology Development program division at the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), asked the question to fellow Oklahomans as they assessed the impact that OCAST had on the state economy. Before 1998, OCAST provided funding for Oklahoma scientific researchers and offered assistance to small and medium manufacturers through the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, which it had recently launched. “I started asking the question, ‘what are we missing?” Stickley said. “You see in OCAST what we have done; what else can we do?” Among those Stickley posed the question to was William Hagstrom, then CEO of Oklahoma City-based UroCor, which marketed products that facilitated the diagnosis of prostate cancer, bladder cancer and other urologic disorders. “He articulated to me the need for technical assistance and financial assistance for startup companies,” Stickley said, “so you can get the technology out of the lab and into the marketplace.” Hagstrom was already arguing for assistance for Oklahoma startups in a report he had prepared for Oklahoma EPSCoR, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. Among the eight points outlined in his report was the need for incubation space, more seed capital and access to talent for startups. “OCAST was this magnificent resource that put out grants, as did the Presbyterian Health Foundation,” Hagstrom said. “The thing that was lacking was there was no place scientists and
entrepreneurs could go to get the expertise they needed to commercialize these thoughts and ideas and possibilities.” At about the same time in Oklahoma history, state voters approved State Questions 680 and 681, which made it easier for companies to spin out of local research universities.” So, Hagstrom met a couple of times with Stickley and shared his thoughts on the possibility of creating an entity to help entrepreneurs. “It was one of the key things we could do and it should be an extension of OCAST,” Hagstrom argued. Stickley discovered that OCAST had the statutory authority to work in technology development and commercialization. She approached Carolyn Sales, then executive director of the agency, about the idea of spinning out an entity similar to the Manufacturing Alliance to benefit technology-based startups. “Carolyn green-lighted me to go ahead with that planning process,” Stickley said. “Then a whole bunch of people got involved.” Supporters of the concept also had to convince the state legislature that a new organization to support startups was needed. Some legislators were skeptical of the state’s return on investment through the grant funding awarded through OCAST. Hagstrom was among those who argued the case before the legislature. “I remember making the case that if you are concerned over the ROI from all these grants, why don’t you do something about it like funding this center where we could actually take all this science and technology and turn it into something commercially impactful that will benefit the economy,” Hagstrom said. The not-for-profit corporation that emerged from the process was originally called the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center.
i 2 E C L I E N T C O M PA N I E S Hagstrom served as Chairman of the Board for the first two years of the Tech Center’s (as it was called) existence. “Sheri and I felt very strongly that if there was some possible way to get funding to get the Tech Center started, wonderful things could happen from there,” he said. Although the name was later changed to i2E, Inc., the mission has evolved over the past two decades. It launched as a source of business advisory services, quickly added investment capital for startups, and eventually added training future entrepreneurs to its menu of services through the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup business plan competition. “i2E has constantly been striving to expand its outreach and its impact by way of the programs that it delivers,” said Hagstrom, who today is founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Octave Bioscience. “And that includes access to skills, seminars and these really important seed capital funds that allow for entrepreneurs to get the jump start they need to validate key milestones to then be able to attract higher levels of funding over time.”
"i2E has constantly been striving to expand its outreach and its impact by way of the programs that it delivers." – Bill Hagstrom Over the past 20 years, i2E has provided business advice or investment capital to more than 700 Oklahoma-based companies, and provided more than $52 million in investment capital. More than 2,100 college students from campuses across the state have participated in the Love’s Cup or its predecessor, the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition. For the state of Oklahoma, i2E has more than met the return-on-investment expectations of the founders, said Stickley, who today is retired as President and CEO of the Oklahoma Bioscience Association. “i2E definitely stepped in and filled the gap that Bill Hagstrom identified in the first place,” Stickley said. “From that standpoint, it was effective almost immediately. Just look at the numbers. The performance metrics speak for themselves in terms of the return on investment and the success that i2E has had in that respect. I am personally proud o f i2E. It has always creatively been looking for that next step, that next thing that needs to be done and finding very, very creative ways to meet new challenges, to not remain static.” Over the years, i2E has emerged as the go-to place for high growth entrepreneurs looking to commercialize their technologies.
madepossibleby.us Madepossibleby.us powers crowdfunding for nonprofits & neighbors in need, Giving Circles for group giving and Community Give Days. MaxQ MaxQ is a provider of validated cold chain packaging solutions for the life sciences industry. Medibis Acquired in 2013 by The SSI Group
Medibis was a solution provider that focused specifically in the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) market. Mobile tAPPestry Mobile tAPPestry removes barriers to entry so web developers can rapidly deliver affordable, feature-rich, custom mobile apps. Moleculera Labs Moleculera Labs provides nextgeneration antibody tests that detect whether an autoimmune reaction is causing neurologic or psychiatric symptoms. Monscierge, Inc. Monscierge develops and markets advanced interaction technologies for touch screen and multi-touch platforms for the hospitality industry. Novazyme Pharmaceuticals Acquired in 2001 by Genzyme Corporation
Novazyme Pharmaceuticals developed bio therapeutic products for the treatment for Pompe disease. OMRF - Glioblastoma Acquired in 2016 by Oblato, Inc.
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has developed a novel therapeutic for the treatment of glioblastoma. Otologic Pharmaceutics Otologic Pharmaceutics is commercializing promising technologies to address hearing loss and dysfunction. FALL 2018 i&E 19
SELEXYS PHARMACEUTICALS’ LONG ROAD TO SUCCESS Successful journey to exit began with Dr. Rodger McEver’s discovery of P-selectin protein more than 30 years ago
"If you have people in the knowledge industry who are innovating, then they become part of a community that becomes more interesting. That makes the community more attractive for other bright people, particularly young, bright people.” – Rodger McEver, M.D.
More than three decades ago in a Texas laboratory, Rodger McEver, M.D., discovered a protein on blood platelets and on the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels. Eventually, that protein became known as P-selectin. Dr. McEver was a young physician/ researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. It was his first faculty job. After relocating to Oklahoma for a position with both the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), Dr. McEver filed a patent application on the P-selectin discovery in 1989. “We thought that intervening to block P-selectin function could be clinically important in one or more disease processes,” said Dr. McEver, who today is OMRF’s Vice President of Research. “We thought the only way we could move forward was to control the process through our own company.” In his OMRF laboratory, Dr. McEver studies how circulating blood cells attach to blood vessel surfaces at sites of tissue injury or infection. Substances released at these sites direct the 20 i&E FALL 2018
endothelial cells that line blood vessels to display “adhesion molecules.” Dr. McEver co-founded Selexys Pharmaceuticals in 2002 along with Rick Alvarez and then-OU biochemistry professor Dr. Richard Cummings. It was the beginning of a long commercialization journey. You may have heard how that turned out. In December 2016, Switzerland-based Novartis, the world's second largest pharmaceutical company, bought Selexys in a transaction valued up to $665 million. Among the investors who were rewarded in the exit was i2E, with a $100,000 Technology Business Finance Program (TBFP) award in the company in 2006, followed that in 2009 (and 2015) with more than $481,000 invested through the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund. It also invested $218,425 in Selexys through the Accelerate Oklahoma! Fund. For Dr. McEver, the early years were all about establishing the right medical indication for a new drug, and then developing an effective strategy. “We had a couple of different strategies to do that,” he said. “One was more complicated.
As we were developing Selexys, we decided a more practical strategy would be to use what is known as a monoclonal antibody.” This strategy showed promise in the ability to block the function of P-selectin. When P-selectin binds to blood cells in humans, it results in painful complications in patients with sickle cell disease. Meanwhile, the company weathered the long development years by a combination of state and federal grants – large and small – as well as venture capital and angel investments. In 2003 Selexys received its first OARS award from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). That was followed by the TBFP from i2E, a convertible note from the Presbyterian Health Foundation, as well as investment from a private individual. “It’s a fragile business when you are starting out,” Dr. McEver said. “You have an idea, but at that early point of the idea, a lot of people are going to be skeptical. Somebody has to be willing to take a chance on the idea to see if it can fly. Those early funds gave us a chance to develop the idea a little further to see if it was feasible.”
i 2 E C L I E N T C O M PA N I E S For Selexys, 2008 turned out to be a watershed year. Oklahoma native Scott Rollins, Ph.D., was hired as CEO from Alexion Pharmaceuticals in Connecticut. Rollins brought expertise in both drug development and fund-raising and also added drug development talent to the team in David Falconer and fellow Oklahoma native Russell Rother, Ph.D., both of whom were Alexion employees. “Led by Scott Rollins, the Selexys folks were outstanding in obtaining $11.4 million in SBIR grants from the NIH,” Dr. McEver said. “It was unbelievable. Every grant application they put in was awarded. Then they also won an EDGE grant from the State of Oklahoma.” The next step was taking the drug – SelG1 – first developed in Dr. McEver’s lab in 1989 – into human clinical trials. A $23 million deal signed in 2012 with MPM Capital took the Selexys drug into a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with sickle cell disease, and with it the promise of an investment by Novartis if the trial was successful. Of course, it was. And in late 2016, the exit was sealed with Novartis. Despite the buyout, the Selexys management team remains intact in another company, Tetherex Pharmaceuticals. Tetherex was spun out of Selexys before the Novartis deal. Dr. McEver is a Tetherex co-founder and board member. Tetherex is currently taking a drug called SelK2 through a Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with Crohn’s disease. Deep vein thrombosis is another target. “The same people who were so wonderful in moving Selexys along are now moving Tetherex,” Dr. McEver said. There is an important lesson for Oklahoma in the Selexys success, Dr. McEver said. The state can strengthen and diversify its economy by supporting innovation that emerges from the OU Health Sciences Center and OMRF. “Biotech is part of that innovation that, hopefully, we can foster in our community,” he said. “Innovation that is commercially successful creates jobs and brings revenue into the state, but has ripple effects. If you have people in the knowledge industry who are innovating, then they become part of a community that becomes more interesting. That makes the community more attractive for other bright people, particularly young, bright people.”
Progentec Diagnostics, Inc. Progentec is developing an industryfirst series of biomarker-based diagnostic tests for Lupus patients. Raw Space For Rent Raw Space For Rent offers an online community marketplace to connect people looking for unique shortterm rental space to a listing base of space to rent. Roll-2-Roll Technologies, LLC Roll-2-Roll is developing a lateral guiding system with an advanced guide mechanism that uses patented sensing and control technologies. Selexys Pharmaceuticals Acquired in 2017 by Novartis
Selexys Pharmaceuticals developed a therapeutic for the treatment of sickle cell disorder. Send A Ride, Inc. SendaRide provides concierge nonemergency medical transportation for the health care industry Sigma Blood Systems Sigma Blood Systems' products focus on addressing the software needs of blood centers and donor-centric establishments. Simergent, LLC Simergent is developing a peritoneal home dialysis system for international markets. SpectrumFX SpectrumFX's patented Firebane® technology provides fire suppression solutions for the most dangerous fires affecting the airline industry. Spiers New Technologies Spiers New Technologies is the leading full-service provider of “4R” services for advanced battery packs used in hybrid and electric vehicles.
FALL 2018 i&E 21
FOREVER AN ENTREPRENEUR by Kenneth Knoll
Many people credit i2E with shaping their startup experience. For me, i2E didn’t just define one moment, but became a launching pad of sorts—and a home base—that I took off from and came back to several times and in varying capacities throughout my career so far. The college course that changed my life. Ask almost anyone about their college experience and, surely, they will say it changed their life in some way. But my experience in a course on entrepreneurship at the University of Tulsa, taught by Tom Walker, i2E’s former CEO, opened my eyes to a side of the startup world I didn’t know existed: high growth, high tech, and high risk. Prior to Tom’s course, I had always envisioned myself starting a business one day. But the businesses that I imagined in my future were smaller; more in line with family-owned, or lifestyle, businesses. The idea that there were companies out there that pushed the innovation envelope and lost money for years be-
22 i&E FALL 2018
fore turning a profit rocked my world; and the element of high-risk (and high-reward) in creating a truly innovative business to capitalize on a market need had me captivated. Shortly after completing the course, I competed in the Donald W. Reynold’s Governor’s Cup, now the Love’s Cup, where I learned that the challenges in building a technology-based business extend well beyond first being a technologist or even a founder. Executing on an idea is the real challenge. It was completely unlike the flashy headlines I was used to seeing of a technologist-turned-founder taking over the world. This discovery alone was empowering. This early exposure to entrepreneurship, at the student level, showcased i2E’s remarkable ability to create new generations of innovators versus only targeting those who had already chosen entrepreneurship to be their path. That early exposure is something for which I will always be grateful.
A behind-the-scenes view of startups My next experience with i2E was an internship. My goal throughout college was to expose myself to as much as I could about business, period. That meant taking every opportunity that came my way, from small business manual labor and a global marketing internship to financial internships and, eventually, i2E. My fascination with high growth startups hadn’t slowed down. I wanted to get a closer look at what that looked like in the real world. In hindsight, interning at i2E was a big deal. They were a small team, about 20 people. But I had stayed in touch with Tom Walker and the relationship paid off; i2E was the last internship before I graduated. The internship gave me exposure to about 15 startups, all early stage, all pre-Series A. I was able to see, first hand, what it took to advise and vet a company, and just how hard these entrepreneurs worked to bring their vision to life. I saw how hard startup life was, the long hours, the dedication, the uncertainty, the failure. These aspects didn’t scare me off, but I realized I had much to learn and a new opportunity came calling. ConocoPhillips, the sprawling global energy corporation, offered me a job right out of school. This presented me with an opportunity of a lifetime for a young graduate: to see how a massive company was run—and to see the world at the same time. Before I knew
i 2 E C L I E N T C O M PA N I E S it, I was in welcomed into ConocoPhillips’s company training rotation program, where I’d be taking two- to four- week trips to countries all over the globe, while spending time in some of the most desolate (and dangerous) parts of the world. I had a lot to learn and boy did I. Early startups are lightyears from needing everything that large corporations do to run; however, much can be borrowed from the corporate world to create an efficient and stable early stage operation. All roads lead to i2E The experience I gained from ConocoPhillips was invaluable, but I knew I was ready to remain in the Heartland and explore new opportunities. As my time with ConocoPhillips came to a close, I once again reached out to i2E to see how I could get involved. I had seen the world and learned the best practices of big business. I felt ready to apply my learnings to startups. I interviewed with David Thomison, who oversaw i2E’s investments, and was grateful to receive an offer to manage an early stage investment fund. This meant evaluating investments, structuring deals, and packaging them up for investment committee approval. One of the questions I asked in the interview was this: “If I work at i2E and then eventually, three, maybe four years from now, want to start something of my own, or leave i2E to join a startup, would you consider that a win?” David’s response was immediate: “Absolutely.” That was all I needed to hear to jump into the opportunity. i2E is in it for entrepreneurs, however they come. This serves as a strong testament of i2E’s mission to add value to the startup ecosystem in any way possible. And, little did I know at the time, but it was also bringing me one step closer to where I am today, with WeGoLook.
A stepping stone to WeGoLook My role with i2E eventually evolved into an advisory function, working directly with very early stage startups. It was in early 2010 that a woman came into my office with an idea, more or less on a piece of paper. It was an executive summary of a revolutionary concept, where inspectors or “Lookers” could be hired ondemand. Her name was Robin Smith, WeGoLook’s co-founder and CEO. I knew gold when I saw it and quickly put together an investment offering to support her business. I stayed closely connected with WeGoLook as it solidified the concept and grew. By early 2014, the small but effective WeGoLook team had nailed it with an enterprise offering and it was time to scale. Robin and I partnered together to strategize WeGoLook’s fundraising and growth strategy. Recently, that paper idea sold to one of the largest third-party insurance administration firms in the world. As they say, the rest is history. And I’ll forever be an entrepreneur, in no small part due to the support and experiences i2E provides.
Sway Medical Sway is an innovative software company focused on reinventing the way medical outcomes are measured. Synercon Technologies Synercon's technology extracts heavy vehicle crash data from the vehicle’s engine control module in both a forensically sound and more efficient way. Tailwind Tailwind is a marketing platform for brands, agencies, e-commerce and publishers on Pinterest and Instagram. Tallgrass Therapeutics, LLC Tallgrass Therapeutics is pursuing development of novel nutritional supplements for prevention of necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants. TeleVet TeleVet is a service that aims to establish a stronger connection between veterinarians and pet owners by remotely providing medical information to all authorized parties. Tetherex Pharmaceuticals Tetherex is focused on the clinical development of an anti-PSGL-1 antibody for the treatment of inflammatory and thrombotic diseases. TokenEx TokenEx is a payment card outsourcing service that removes card numbers from merchant networks and replaces them with “tokens” or fabricated card numbers. Valve Systems International, LLC VSI's innovative control valve regulates the flow of fluid between a high pressure source and low pressure discharge volume thereby limiting fluid turbulence.
Verinovum, LLC Verinovum’s technology enables the coordination of highly complex data sets to decrease waste, increase quality and maximize profitability in the healthcare vertical. FALL 2018 i&E 23
THE PERFECT STORM 20-year impact of i2E on state’s economy ‘more than anyone could have imagined’ In the beginning, no one could have had the foresight to peer into the future and predict the impact that i2E would have on the state’s economy when it was founded in 1998 as the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. In fact, said Howard Barnett, president of Oklahoma State University-Tulsa and immediate past Chairman of i2E’s Board of Directors, the company has far exceeded expectations in its contributions to job creation, diversification and new startups across Oklahoma. “It has been more effective than any of us could have imagined in the beginning,” Barnett said. “When we started, we were a service organization designed to help startup technology-based businesses launch and grow. While we still do that, we are now more of an engine for that growth through the seven funds we manage and the capital we provided to starting and growing Oklahoma companies.” Norman’s Weather Decision Technologies (WDT) is a tremendous example of i2E’s impact on job creation, diversification, new products and Oklahoma’s startup ecosystem. Founded in 2000 by Michael Eilts and two others, WDT today employs 85 people, including 31 with Master’s or Ph.D. level degrees. As a provider of weather-related projects, WDT offers expertise that applies to hazardous weather detection and prediction, forecast modeling, analytics, mobile apps and interactive mapping. Its worldwide customer base includes oil and gas industry clients, agriculture, marine, health care and data scientists. Early on in its history, WDT established a relationship with i2E that resulted in a $1 million investment through the Enterprise Oklahoma Venture Fund, managed by i2E.
“That was a really important time; we were just kind of coasting along and hadn’t figured out how to scale really big yet,” Eilts said. “But we were able to use that $1 million to grow the business and in fact, returned $4 million to investors about 5 years later.” WDT has had an impact of more than $350 million on the state’s economy in its 17 years of history, according to Eilts, and continues to bring millions of dollars into the state annually in revenue from its worldwide client base. Barnett attributes Oklahoma’s now flourishing startup community to the passage of State Questions 680 and 681 in 1998 that allowed research institutions to form research
partnerships with private industry. That change in the state’s constitution enabled entrepreneurs like Eilts to license technology developed on the University of Oklahoma campus and build a commercial enterprise around it. “The wealth of knowledge and expertise at the universities has only been available for 20 years,” Barnett said. “Coincidentally, i2E started around the same time. As a result of these two things, we have a much richer entrepreneurial community.” Building on that success, i2E has grown from not only providing business advisory services to now being a real source of early stage investment capital for Oklahoma startups,
“The wealth of knowledge and expertise at the universities has only been available for 20 years. Coincidentally, i2E started around the same time. As a result of these two things, we have a much richer entrepreneurial community.” – Howard Barnett
24 i&E FALL 2018
i 2 E C L I E N T C O M PA N I E S Weather Decision Technologies Weather Decision Technologies, Inc. is an industry leader, providing organizations with weather decision support on a global scale. WeGoLook Acquired in 2017 by Crawford & Company
said Roy Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and a past chairman of i2E’s Board. “i2E is bringing financial resources to the table, and to me that is significant for our startups. If there is no access to capital, no matter how good your idea is, it isn’t going to get off the ground,” Williams said. Barnett added, “i2E is positioned to help these companies at each stage with consultation, advice and even in assistance in finding other sources of capital and support. Because of this, we have seen the number of companies that we help succeed grow exponentially and their employment grow correspondingly. In its role of helping entrepreneurs build successful new companies, i2E finds itself at the heart of a successful startup ecosystem that really didn’t exist before the company was founded. “I think that i2E led the way for many of the additions to the ‘ecosystem’ that we see today,” Williams said. “i2E’s has been a major factor in the ongoing development of an Innovation District surrounding the University of Oklahoma Health Center campus in Oklahoma City. They played a key role in understanding the needs of an effective ecosystem for startups and being an advocate of it and knowing what components of it are a priority and critical,” Williams said. “i2E gave us compelling reasons why we should have an Innovation District.” For 20 years i2E has been assisting entrepreneurs, investing in Oklahoma startups, and shaping the environment in which entrepreneurs operate. It’s made for a more vibrant state economy. “I think it is safe to say that the Oklahoma economy is in better shape and significantly more diversified because of the activities of i2E,” Barnett said.
WeGoLook™ dispatches crowd sourced "lookers" to verify a product, person, place or thing.
Well Checked Systems International, LLC Well Checked Monitoring Systems and Services provide remote well site video monitoring, reporting, alerting and data storage and retrieval. Whiteboard Technologies Whiteboard offers a software platform for high-margin, low-frequency sales personnel to create better relationships and increase referrals. Worth Aviation Worth introduces proprietary technology to increase aviation incident claims accuracy by utilizing experienced licensed analysts and innovative technology. Zone·tv™ Zone·tv™ is redefining the TV viewing environment by delivering a personalized entertainment experience filled with expertly curated, new content discoveries.
FALL 2018 i&E 25
i2E and Innovative Oklahomans are forging forward with new Technologies It’s no coincidence that groundbreaking startups have flourished in Oklahoma over the past two decades, creating jobs and attracting millions of dollars in revenue from beyond our borders through investment and sales. Since 1998, More than 700 Oklahoma startups have shared a common thread: i2E provided them with business expertise and funding as they started down the path to success. CONNECTING THE WORLD VIA THE CLOUD
ENHANCING LIFE WITH INNOVATION
There’s nothing like the World Wide Web to unleash entrepreneurial instincts. i2E portfolio companies help entrepreneurs and their Internet businesses succeed.
A number of i2E’s client companies help people enjoy life more.
Raw Space for Rent is an online peer-to-peer renting business, conceptually similar to Airbnb — with a giant difference. Raw Space for Rent connects people who have unused space to rent with people who are looking for unique, temporary rentable space. Listings are limited only by owners’ creativity. From art galleries to attics, bakeries to barns, pastures to penthouses, Raw Space for Rent helps renters find unique options for the space they need while owners make money from unused space.
Cynthia Convery Raw Space for Rent
Tailwind provides a platform that makes worldclass digital marketing easy for the millions of people who have started small businesses. It could be a single person on an e-commerce site like Etsy or Shopify, or it could be people who start blogs or write other digital content to supplement their income or for fun. Tailwind saves business owners time and money by figuring out the right influencers, how often posts should appear, and which keywords and hashtags connect with the most relevant audience. Danny Maloney Tailwind
“There is so much public data available today, that we should be able to recommend anything at the right time and price,” said John Morad, founder, and CEO of iRecommend, a Tulsa-based startup that improves connections between retailers, recruiters, realtors and their customers. iRecommend helps companies serve their customers in a hyper-personalized way with highly-relevant, specific recommendations. Whether you are looking for a house, a job, or a wedding dress, online retailers who use iRecommend can deliver highly personalized information to you that is timed just right, putting what you want at your fingertips instantly. 26 i&E FALL 2018
DateBox is a budget friendly subscription service that “brings back the magic of date night” for busy couples who are pulled in too many directions to plan. Every month, DateBox delivers a box containing the items and creative plans for one great date. The contents of each box are a surprise. Each box contains eight to 10 items based on a theme and chosen from among more than 100,000 well-vetted and curated products. Activities range from dance lessons, to a gourmet cooking class, to building a gingerbread house, to an at-home evening of cheese and wine. DateBox gets smarter about making selections for subscribers the more it is used. For those nights and weekends when all you want to do is veg out in front of a big-screen TV, there’s zone·tv, a startup with the vision to bring a highly personalized viewing experience to customers who want more than traditional TV programming. Within the next few months, zone·tv will present viewers with access to more than 13 new and original specialty channels (Styler, Brainiac, Foodies to name a few). Or, for those of us who are hooked on shows, zone·tv will allow viewers to create their own channel with the lineup of programs that they like best — controlled via the cloud with the ease and simplicity of clicking a remote. Plus, the more a person watches, the more zone·tv learns. When you buy tickets to the World Cup, Beyoncé’s latest concert or book passage on a cruise, the only people who want the weather to cooperate more than you do are the event and cruise line operators. That’s why organizations such as those that host more than 6,000 outdoor events a year look to Weather Decisions Technologies to provide weather decision support on a global scale. When you travel to that concert or sporting event and stay in a hotel, it might just be Monscierge providing the hotel-branded in-room and mobile applications that allow you to schedule a taxi, order your car, request extra pillows, or receive a recommendation and reservation at the best local Italian eatery. From Miami to St. Maarten and from Seattle to SoHo, Monscierge has installations in almost 80 countries, with multilingual capabilities. Medical devices, therapeutics bring hope, healing Just over 40 percent of i2E client companies are in life sciences. They are developing drug therapies that change patients’ lives, inventing medical devices that revolutionize surgery, and coming up with novel ways to make patients safer and more comfortable. Selexys Pharmaceuticals discovered a new kind of hope for sufferers of sickle cell disease with a drug in late stage clinical trials that reduces the horrific, even life-threatening, pain of this incurable blood disease. Selexys sold to Novartis in 2016, and the management team formed a new company, Tetherex which is working on developing novel products to treat thrombosis, inflammatory diseases, and cancer.
Moleculera Labs provides the only test of its kind in the world to help identify a treatable neurologic condition where a patient’s own antibodies begin to attack the brain. The treatable condition is called PANDAS/PANS. It appears in children, who were previously living a normal life and then get sick (perhaps with strep or some other infection), and begin exhibiting uncharacteristic, even extreme behaviors — from the inability to concentrate to anxiety, rage, or anorexia. Imagine you are the parent of one of these children and you can’t figure out what is happening with your daughter or son. With Moleculera, you can. Craig Shimasaki Moleculera Labs
Who hasn’t observed the struggle that hospital patients have with IV lines. They twist, they get caught, and sometimes they pull out. Linear Health Sciences, founded by Ryan Dennis, MD, who grew up on an Oklahoma family farm, provides a break-away valve, called the Orchid™ Safety Release Valve that reduces the dislodgement of peripheral IVs, central lines, or peripherally inserted central catheters. The Orchid™ creates a sterile seal, prevents the tubing from being pulled out, and can make a hospital patient’s stay safer and more comfortable.
Ryan Dennis Linear Health Sciences
If you’ve ever had a medical procedure that involves a camera inside your body — from knee surgery to gall stone removals to an endoscopy to view your digestive tract, you could be a patient who has benefited from the exceptional micro precision optics and medical subassemblies produced by Access Optics. Founders Bob and Pam Hogrefe came to Oklahoma after living on both coasts, in pursuit of a breakthrough technology that they could build into a business. And what a business they have built. Access Optics has produced nearly a million elements and close to 30,000 medical devices, and now the company is working on rugged, high-powered cameras that are economical enough to be disposable.
Bob and Pam Hogrefe Access Optics
No one wants leftover drugs — especially opioids — to be flushed down a toilet or poured down a drain. Clear River Enviro (CRE) equips hospitals and other healthcare facilities to dispose of opioid and other pharmaceutical waste on-the spot by simply dropping the drugs into the top of a secure machine that sits on the counter next to the drug safe or refrigerator. “We use a patented technology and reagents that are virtually 100 percent effective in breaking up drug molecules,” said Mark Macdonell, co-founder of CRE said. “The water that is left is safe to dump down the drain.” Did you know that most American adults say that they either have a family member who is caring for an aging adult, or, if not yet, they expect that eventually they will? Of the type of help needed, transportation is near the top of the list, especially transportation to doctor appointments and medical tests. What if the next time your elderly mom needs a ride to her doctor’s appointment, you have a meeting scheduled that you just can’t miss? Or suppose your doctor has ordered blood work, but you feel too wobbly to drive. For seniors and the ill or disabled, getting back and forth to medical appointments and tests can be a challenge. Enter SendaRide, an Oklahoma startup that provides customized, concierge, nonemergency medical transportation, for individuals and senior citizens. SendaRide is significantly different from other rideshare companies; the goal isn’t to order a pickup by a random driver in 10 minutes or less. Instead, the company’s service is all about safety, compassion, and kindly treatment with scheduled transportation delivered by a highly vetted team of drivers especially recruited from healthcare and community service industries.
OVERCOMING THE HURDLES OF LIFE
CONCEPTS THAT KEEP AMERICA MOVING
Oklahoma startups are positioned to help negotiate the challenges you are sometimes confronted with.
Not only are startup businesses the source of all net new job creation, they find the problems that need to be solved and needs that must be filled — and when they do, they have the power to change entire industries.
The world’s first gig economy platform for enterprise customers, WeGoLook, was founded as a crowdsourced field services company to increase consumer confidence in vehicles and other objects they were purchasing online. If you were buying a truck on eBay, for example, you could hire a “looker” to check it out before you paid. It’s been almost two years since WeGoLook sold an 85 percent interest to Crawford & Company, and since then the company is having a significant effect on the insurance industry. SpectrumFX offers a fire suppression solution that puts out the hottest fires, including those made by lithium batteries. They provide a kit that allows flight attendants to repress reactive metal fires, such as those caused by lithium batteries in consumer electronics. Ross Faith SpectrumFX For cyclists, skiers, snowboarders, and other action sports, ICEdot is an emergency identification and notification service that provides a crash sensor that attaches to the safety helmet. In an accident, the sensor, via low-power blue tooth and pairs with an app for the phone and notifies people on a person’s emergency health profile. ICEdot can share predesignated health and geolocation data via SMS/text. Organs for transplant, blood, and critical vaccines often must be shipped to where the patients are. The packaging and shipping specifications are rigorous; the life-saving cargo is too precious to be damaged or lost — and yet this can and does happen. MaxQ has developed high strength, lightweight insulated “boxes” that are engineered to highly demanding shipping requirements, are significantly more cost-effective and efficient to use, and most importantly keep contents at temperature specifications. When MaxQ started, it anticipated saving hospitals and blood banks time and money. Now it anticipates saving lives.
Laura Fleet SendaRide
Shoaib Shaikh, Saravan Kumar, and Balaji Jayakumar MaxQ
Spiers New Technologies repairs, refurbishes and repurposes batteries used in electric and hybrid vehicles, providing a one-stop solution for the auto industry. Spiers takes in thousands of battery modules used in hybrid and electric vehicles each week, helping manufacturers get the most out of current battery technology. This should be good news for anyone who wants to drive an electric car. The U.S. trucking industry employs more than seven million people; trucks move almost threequarters of cargo in the U.S. Driving a truck is a demanding job. Drivers put is as much as 70 hours over an 8-day workweek. Fatigue is constant; over 100,000 accidents a year are attributed to driver fatigue and drowsiness. BlyncSync wants to improve safety and operating efficiency for those millions of men and women behind the wheel and reduce driver turnover and insurance rates for trucking companies and operators. The startup is developing a safety software platform that will connect with biometric devices, including a smart device that looks like a pair of cool glasses that captures blinks — a sure sign of fatigue.
Austin Green and Steven Kastelic BlynSync
BETTER LIVES THROUGH OKLAHOMA INNOVATION Profits. Adventure. The dream of building an enterprise of lasting value. The drive to create a better life for the family. The determination to knock down barriers and solve problems. These were the motivations of the pioneers who founded our state. From the parking meter to the grocery cart, to the 700-plus Oklahoma innovators and entrepreneurs that i2E has worked beside over the last 20 years, we celebrate all of those in Oklahoma who recognized opportunity and weren’t shy about taking the risks to make it happen. May the drive and motivation that has powered innovation and entrepreneurship in Oklahoma this far carry our state to the next level of human and economic achievement.
FORTUNATE FUTURE
WeGoLook, Selexys and Oseberg are just a handful of homegrown Oklahoma City startups who are making national headlines. No matter if it is tech, bioscience, aviation, energy or everything in between, the entrepreneurial climate here is breeding big success. Join us and put this unique spirit to work for you in Oklahoma City.
GREATEROKLAHOMACITY.COM
28 i&E FALL 2018