QCA awarded $2M State grant.  In July 2008, the State of Ohio awarded a $2M grant to QCA to create another pre-seed fund.  This fund will follow the successful QCA First Funds I and II, which have invested in 19 very early stage companies over the past 5 years, and attracted almost $50 million of co- and follow-on investments.  Full text of the State press release.

QCA Funds 13 deals in 2007.   The Queen City Angels investment group and the QCA First Fund, members of the C-Cap angel investor network, completed 13 investments in 2007. The portfolio companies include five IT/internet companies – Charles H. Mack & Associates, Search Daddy, Nextumi (now known as ShareThis), The Perseverance Group, and Alta Financial Technologies; five life sciences businesses – Cardiac Power, AssureRx, RhinoCyte, Minimally Invasive Devices, and SpineForm; one nanotechnology company – Five Star Technologies; one electronics company – TraDiCom; and one consumer products company – SealPak Innovations. For a description of the companies see the C-Cap Annual Report. Also see the article in the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Mentoring Mornings: Experienced Advisors Help Growth Companies.    Queen City Angels, C-Cap and the Hamilton County Business Center incubator have combined their resources to introduce promising growth companies to their mentor network of experienced entrepreneurs, investors and professionals at Mentoring Morning sessions.  More than 60 companies have participated in this program.  For many companies, this is their first chance to learn about C-Cap and QCA, and the full range of support services for growth companies.
CEO Forum. In April 2007 C-Cap and The Circuit, its parent, held their annual evening event for senior executives at the Kenwood Country Club, where sponsors of C-Cap and The Circuit meet the Queen City Angels investors and the chief executive officers of local technology companies. Donald Eichenseer, the Chief Information Officer, eBusiness, of Citibank Global Consumer Group, which has consolidated its 12 eBusiness operations in Blue Ash.

Entrepreneur Boot Camp   The May 2007 Boot Camp was another success, with a capacity crowd of 41 entrepreneurs. Local experts, successful entrepreneurs and C-Cap sponsors gave tips on the many things essential to success as an entrepreneur. More than thirty Queen City Angels investors, venture capitalists, professionals and entrepreneurs participated in our unique “breakout sessions" to meet with entrepreneurs individually, hear their stories and give targeted advice. Queen City Angels and C-Cap training programs have trained over 300 entrepreneurs and more than 60 investors since 2001.

QCA chairman Tony Shipley honored. Tony Shipley, one of the founders of QCA, was recently named Supporter of Entrepreneurship Honoree in the 2007 South Central Ohio and Kentucky Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Winners of this year’s awards were announced at a special event at the Cincinnati Duke Energy Center in June.  Full text of press release.

QCA investors have another successful exit.  In July 2007, Diamond Fiber Composites, a QCA portfolio company, was sold to Technical Fibre Products of the UK. DFC manufactures and markets continuous lengths of high performance fibers coated with copper, nickel and other metals for use in applications in the aerospace, defense, electronics, communications and biomedical industries. Technical Fibre Products uses products like those produced by DFC to produce various non-woven products. DFC's operations will remain in place in Cincinnati. Terms of the deal include an earn-out provision, so total return to investors will not be known for some time.

Click here to see examples of recent deals.