COLORADO – When it came to attracting capital and hiring new employees, 2013 proved to be a breakout year for client companies of the nonprofit technology incubator, Rocky Mountain Innosphere. Innosphere’s incubation program for startup companies creates long-term regional economic impact through efficient, personalized growth strategies for entrepreneurs in the cleantech, bioscience and software industries.

Innosphere worked with 44 client companies last year, the most companies to ever come through Innosphere in one year. Of particular interest were 13 of these 44 companies graduated from Innosphere’s incubation program because they met their graduation goals. For some, this was hitting a significant revenue target or raising enough capital to finance sustainable growth. For others, their goal was a strategic partnership with stable funding streams.

Economic Impact Metrics:

Innosphere is excited to announce that the 44 client companies of 2013 collectively achieved the following metrics:

·         raised $35.3 million in grant, angel, and equity funding;

·         supported the creation of 297 new jobs in Colorado;

·         had an average salary of $59k for a full time employee

·         had gross revenues of $16.2 million; and

·         raised a cumulative of over $85 million in capital to date.

Innosphere also worked with 14 CSU startup companies in 2013 who collectively achieved the following metrics: raised $8.1 million in capital; created 78 full and part-time jobs; had $2.9 million in revenues and raised a cumulative of $14.1 million in capital to date.

Additional 2013 successes for Innosphere included furthering the partnership with Colorado State University (CSU), launching a new office to expand their flagship Cleantech program, and building their Access to Capital program by adding additional funding pools.

University Partnership

“Innosphere continued to make great progress this past year and continues to build a strong partnership with CSU,” said Mark Wdowik, Innosphere Board Chair and Assistant Vice President for Research & Industry Partnerships at Colorado State University. “Due to Innosphere’s deeply rooted relationships within the entrepreneurial community of Colorado, they offer clients a broad web of networks, connecting them with mentors and industry leaders who are experienced in their fields and can provide invaluable insights.”

CSU and Innosphere have developed a “Technology to Market” (T2M) process in order to provide a diagnostic tool that provides a common language, and to keep a strong pipeline of startup companies coming into Innosphere’s incubation program. The T2M process starts with research and goes through all the phases of development, validation, startup and growth in order to better define a clear path for companies to follow.

Cleantech Startups

Innosphere launched a new office in Golden, Colorado which serves to expand Innosphere’s cleantech program throughout all of Colorado by supporting startups who will provide the next generation of clean, renewable, and efficient energy technologies. The new office is located at the Colorado Center for Renewable Energy Economic Development (CREED), and CREED is co-located with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The cleantech space is alive and well, as 2013 total capital raised was $16.2 million among these companies.

Access to Capital

This past year Innosphere also continued to build their Access to Capital program to help entrepreneurs bridge the gap between friends and family and traditional forms of capital. Innosphere is working closely with the State of Colorado to implement the State’s new $14 million Advanced Industries (AI) Grant Program.  In accord with the AI Program’s quarterly disbursement regime, on December 20, 2013, close to $3 million in grants were issued to eight Colorado companies, four of which are Innosphere client companies. 

“We are always looking for companies to work with, exciting technologies, sponsors and investors to join our startup ecosystem,” said Mike Freeman, Innosphere CEO. Innosphere has been able to accomplish this through a variety of reasons, one being that they are able to provide client companies with access to internal funding pools and external resources for capital.”

For more information contact Innosphere CEO at [email protected] or 970.818.7736.