{"71610":{"#nid":"71610","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Edison Fund Supports Startup Firms","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThomas Edison often receives credit for inventing the electric light bulb, though his real accomplishment was in making the device - as well as the phonograph and motion picture camera - commercially successful.  That focus on commercializing innovation is now providing the foundation for a new venture bearing Edison\u0027s name at the Georgia Institute of Technology. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELaunched by a multi-year grant from the Charles A. Edison Fund - which is named for the inventor\u0027s son, a successful businessman and former governor of New Jersey - the Georgia Tech Edison Fund will provide seed funding for early-stage technology companies that have a close association with Georgia Tech.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We will focus on startups at the very early stage, because that\u0027s the hardest money for an entrepreneur to find,\u0022 explained Stephen Fleming, Georgia Tech\u0027s chief commercialization officer and manager of the new fund.  \u0022Once companies have customers, a product and some traction in the marketplace, they can interest larger investors.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn his role as Georgia Tech\u0027s chief commercialization officer and director of Commercialization Services within the Enterprise Innovation Institute, Fleming helps faculty members, graduate students and others launch new companies through Georgia Tech\u0027s VentureLab.  He sees first-hand how difficult locating early funding can be.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022There is certainly a perception that there\u0027s not enough early-stage capital in Atlanta,\u0022 he said.  \u0022The Georgia Tech Edison Fund will not by itself be a silver bullet that solves this problem, but I think it will help by putting new energy into and a new focus on early-stage financing.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFleming plans to make the requirement for a Georgia Tech connection as broad as possible.  For example, the Fund will invest in companies that may be founded by Georgia Tech faculty, students and graduates; licensing technology from Georgia Tech; sponsoring research at Georgia Tech; or even hiring a large number of Georgia Tech alumni.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The Georgia Tech Edison Fund is for the whole community,\u0022 Fleming added.  \u0022There are a lot of Georgia Tech threads running through the entrepreneur community in Atlanta and Georgia.  This really won\u0027t limit our capability very much because a lot of deals we are going to want to make are well connected to Georgia Tech.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Fund will be \u0027evergreen,\u0027 meaning it will reinvest the proceeds from any liquidity events back into other opportunities.  Fleming is establishing an investment committee to help guide decisions.  The investments will generally be less than $250,000.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech Edison Fund has already made its first investment in Pramana, a member company of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) that is commercializing Internet technology developed in Institute\u0027s College of Computing.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFleming says the Charles Edison Fund and Georgia Tech are natural collaborators.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We are excited to be working with them because Edison is one of the instantly recognizable brand names around the world,\u0022 he explained.  \u0022Edison means innovation, invention and creativity - all of which are things we are trying to do.  This helps us get our message across very quickly.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor potential donors, the Fund offers a unique opportunity.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This is a very different charitable giving opportunity for people who are interested in entrepreneurship and in helping the next generation of entrepreneurs,\u0022 Fleming said.  \u0022These potential donors may remember how difficult it was to get their businesses started, and would like to give something forward to the next generation.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDonations to the Georgia Tech Edison Fund will be completely targeted to entrepreneurs.  The Fund is not charging a management fee, nor is it paying carried interest to the managers, Fleming noted.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGifts to the Fund will be received by Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures, a 501(c)3 non-profit affiliated with Georgia Tech, and so will be tax-deductible.  Donors will receive no financial benefit from investments made by the Fund, he added.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond seed-level investments, the Fund will also offer entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn from donors who may wish to provide mentoring or service on corporate advisory boards.  \u0022The level of energy and enthusiasm in the entrepreneur community is really infectious,\u0022 Fleming said.  \u0022The chance to work with entrepreneurs like these even in small ways will be good for donors who are interested in it.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the Charles Edison Fund, the new Georgia Tech initiative represents an opportunity to continue the tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship established by the famed inventor.  The collaboration with Georgia Tech is the first university partnership for the Edison organization, which supports a broad range of educational activities aimed at keeping the Edison tradition alive.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This is a novel idea that I don\u0027t think has been tried before,\u0022 said John Keegan, chairman and president of the Charles Edison Fund.  \u0022What makes it novel is that it provides support to faculty members whose ideas are literally in the pre-natal stage, before the concept is developed enough to take to a venture capitalist to seek funding.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech alumnus Edward Allman, a long-time member of the Charles Edison Fund board of directors, played a key role in advocating the funding to establish the Georgia Tech Edison Fund.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I firmly believe that the Georgia Tech Edison Fund will be the starting point for some of our nation\u0027s most promising new technologies,\u0022 Allman said.  \u0022Georgia Tech was founded on a tradition of taking theory and applying it to the real world in ways that make people\u0027s lives better.  Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, which reminds me of what life was all about at Tech.  I am thrilled to be a part of the joining of these organizations and look forward to great progress.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about the Georgia Tech Edison Fund: (404-385-2360) or (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:cs@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ecs@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E-- Dan Treadaway in Georgia Tech\u0027s Institute Communications and Public Affairs contributed to this article.  \u003C\/em\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEnterprise Innovation Institute\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia 30308 USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:john.toon@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejohn.toon@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E)  or Nancy Fullbright (404-894-2214); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:nancy.fullbright@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Enancy.fullbright@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"New fund targets technology companies associated with Georgia Tech"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Famed inventor Thomas Edison made the light bulb, phonograph and motion picture camera commercially successful.  That focus on commercializing innovation is now providing the foundation for a new venture bearing Edison\u0027s name at the Georgia Institute of Technology.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New fund encourages commercialization, innovation"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2007-11-09 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:24","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-11-09T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2007-11-09T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"71611":{"id":"71611","type":"image","title":"Stephen Fleming","body":null,"created":"1449177396","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:36","changed":"1475894639","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:59"},"71612":{"id":"71612","type":"image","title":"Stephen Fleming","body":null,"created":"1449177396","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:36","changed":"1475894639","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:59"}},"media_ids":["71611","71612"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.charlesedisonfund.org\/","title":"Charles Edison Fund"},{"url":"http:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/","title":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"},{"url":"http:\/\/innovate.gatech.edu\/commercial","title":"Georgia Tech Commercialization Services"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2579","name":"commercialization"},{"id":"7534","name":"Edison"},{"id":"341","name":"innovation"},{"id":"166973","name":"startup"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}