TechAlliance announces $500k success story and new program to fill business growth gap

November 29, 2006 LONDON, ONTARIO – TechAlliance, the technology association which acts as a catalyst for economic growth in the London region, has announced a new suite of services that will help grow local companies from “seed” to “success” and confirmed yesterday that the model is already working, with a $500k investment facilitated by TechAlliance in local medical device company, Scisense Inc. Scisense, founded and based in London, is the developer of the world’s smallest wireless implantable blood pressure sensor.

“The TechAlliance program provided the critical link between potential investors and our company, as well as taking on a mentoring role to ensure we could make a compelling case to potential investors.” said Blair Poetschke, President of Scisense Inc. “This investment will make a tremendous impact on our ability to broaden our product line, and to exponentially increase our sales.”

Poetschke was a client of TechAlliance Venture Services, a program designed to create investor-ready companies and facilitate access to investors. The TechAlliance Business Services Suite of programs includes Venture Services but aims support companies at all growth stages, including filling an identified gap in service and support for entrepreneurs and early-stage companies. The program begins with a basic entrepreneur boot camp - “Entrepreneur1.0” and an Entrepreneur Peer-to-Peer group; the second stage, “BusinessLab”, involves both mentoring of early stage companies by seasoned local business experts and an Executive Engagement program with the Richard Ivey School of Business, which will pair companies with senior student teams from Ivey. The Suite concludes with the TechAlliance Venture Services program, which is already well underway. The Entrepreneur1.0 Boot Camp graduated its first 23 students yesterday. Applications are now being accepted for Suite of programs and are available online at www.techalliance.ca.

“Our main focus with first, the Venture Services program, and now with this new suite of services, is on facilitating the individual company growth that translates into substantial economic benefit for the entire community,” said Marilyn Sinclair, General Manager of TechAlliance. “Scisense is a world-class company, founded and based in London. We are thrilled to help provide them with tools to take their success to the next level and are looking forward to doing so, through this suite of programs, for dozens of new and existing local companies.”

Scisense products give scientists new tools to work with transgenic mice to develop cures for heart disease and other medical conditions. With the investment, Poetschke was able to double his staff roster with seven new hires, including two recent graduates from the University of Western Ontario Science faculty and one from Fanshawe College’s Electronics Technology program. It is estimated that the company could grow to employ as many as 100 people within 5 years and create a number of new spin-off businesses as well.

Eric Morse, Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Richard Ivey School of Business, a partner in the Executive Engagement program, noted the diverse number of benefits the program will have for the community, including attraction and retention of highly-skilled graduates.

“This program not only facilitates growth for promising local companies, it also supports the community’s attraction and retention efforts by providing Ivey students with an introduction to the business opportunities in the London region and offering relevant experience in local companies with the highest growth potential.”

Funding for the Suite comes from a $700k investment in TechAlliance by the Ontario Research and Commercialization Program (ORCP) of the Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI), which TechAlliance announced in July. Funding for TechAlliance Venture Services is also provided in part by the MRI under its Regional Innovation Networks (RIN) program (under which TechAlliance partners with the Stiller Centre for Technology Commercialization,) and by the City of London, which supports TechAlliance with annual funding.

For more information, please contact:

Lindsay Sage
Director, Programs and Services
TechAlliance
519.858.5101 (office)
519.860.7431 (cell)
lindsay.sage@techalliance.ca