Excerpted from Portage Daily Register
By Lyn Jerde

A revolving loan fund that has offered seed money to Columbia County businesses for more than a decade will soon get an infusion of cash, thanks to the federal government.

The Columbia County Economic Development Corp. is one of eight Wisconsin recipients, announced Thursday, of Rural Business Enterprise Grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program.

Nancy Elsing, executive director of the CCEDC, said the $99,900 grant will go into a revolving loan fund — one of three such funds available to new or expanding businesses based in Columbia County. Besides the CCEDC’s fund, there also are revolving loan funds overseen by Columbia County and the city of Portage.

A revolving loan fund offers financial assistance at below-market interest rates for businesses that meet specific criteria, including job creation. When the loans are repaid, the money goes back into the fund and is available for other loans.

Elsing said it was 2002 when the CCEDC first applied for, and received, a USDA Rural Development grant of $99,150 to start a revolving loan fund. That fund grew after the 2008 floods with another $150,000 grant, largely because many Columbia County residents and businesses suffered flood-related losses.

Like all revolving loan funds, the CCEDC’s RLF provides “gap funding” for businesses, which must also have financing from other sources, including private financial institutions, to qualify for the revolving loans. But Elsing estimates that the availability of CCEDC revolving loans has, over the years, leveraged more than $3 million for new or expanding business in Columbia County.

The amount of a CCEDC loan, according to Elsing, usually is based on the number of full-time equivalent jobs that the business promises to create within a year of receiving the loan.

Although Columbia County still has its own revolving loan fund — with every loan requiring final approval from the County Board — the county fund is in the process of transitioning to a six-county regional fund, pending state approval. The proposed Capital Area Regional Revolving Loan Fund would pool municipal revolving loan funds (including the city of Portage’s) in Columbia, Dane, Jefferson, Dodge, Rock and Sauk counties. When the regionalization is finalized, all the money in these funds would be pooled and available to businesses in any of the participating counties.

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Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Judy Newman

Virent’s plant-based gasoline can hit the open road.

Virent’s BioForm fuel has received approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use in highway driving, the Madison company said Tuesday.

The fuel, derived from plant sugars, can constitute up to 45 percent of a blend with conventional gasoline, the EPA said.

The ruling is “further confirmation of Virent’s high quality drop-in fuel and is another step towards commercializing our technology to produce renewable fuels and chemicals from biobased feedstocks,” Virent president and chief executive Lee Edwards said. He offered no timetable for commercializing the biofuel.

Virent also is working on plant-based substitutes for other petroleum products, from jet fuel to chemicals for plastics and fibers, including recyclable bottles for Coca-Cola.

The company has 80 full-time employees, all in Madison.

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Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Judy Newman

Big news came late Monday for Exact Sciences Corp.: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Cologuard, the Madison company’s non-invasive test to screen for colorectal cancer.

“This is the culmination of almost two decades of work. I can’t tell you how exciting it is for the company, for all of the people who have helped make this a reality, including researchers from Mayo Clinic,” Exact Sciences chief executive Kevin Conroy said as he boarded a flight to New York for an expected early morning broadcast appearance.”

Cologuard, a DNA-based stool test, will be indicated for people ages 50 and older who are considered at average risk for colorectal cancer.

The test detects hemoglobin, a protein found in blood, and certain DNA mutations associated with colorectal cancer. Patients who test positive are advised to undergo a colonoscopy.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a preliminary decision on covering the cost of the test, proposing a three-year testing interval for people ages 50 to 85 with no cancer symptoms. The proposal is subject to a 30-day comment period and final action is expected in November.

This is the first time CMS has proposed national coverage on the same day the FDA approved a technology, said Patrick Conway, CMS chief medical officer.

Conroy said Cologuard will be available for physicians to order from Exact Sciences’ website, www.exactsciences.com. Kits will be shipped directly to patients, starting Sept. 2, Conroy said. The cost: $599.

Publicly traded Exact Sciences has 300 employees, about 200 of them in Madison, with headquarters in University Research Park, at 441 Charmany Drive, and a new lab in the Novation Campus, off Rimrock Road.

Colorectal cancer is the third-most-common cancer affecting both men and women and the No. 2 cause of cancer-related death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Excerpted from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Kylie Gumpert

Technology entrepreneurs will receive funding from a new $1 million program to commercialize innovation.

SBIR Advance, which stands for Small Business Innovation and Research, will be available across the state through the University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Center for Technology Commercialization. The funding comes from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and is available to recipients of SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer grants.

According to the program’s website, cash will be awarded over three different phases once milestones are met. Preference will be given to new companies that are receiving their grants for the first time.

“SBIR Advance will fill critical funding gaps for activities such as market research and patent development restricted under federal awards that applicants already hold,” Reed Hall, CEO of WEDC, said in a statement. “Unlike programs in some other states, SBIR Advance will provide funding upon completion of key milestones…which significantly accelerate business development.”

The new program is part of Start-Seed-Scale, or S3, a new initiative that the WEDC has taken on with the University of Wisconsin to help high-tech start-ups commercialize.

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Press Release
City of Sun Prairie 

InForm Product Development has reached an agreement with the City of Sun Prairie to acquire a five-acre parcel in the Sun Prairie Business Park for the construction of a new 26,400 s.f. corporate headquarters.

Ed Raleigh, Vice-President for InForm Product Development, stated:

“This new facility in Sun Prairie will allow InForm to develop and expand our electrical engineering group, expand our current prototype capabilities to include CNC machining, expand our in-house rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, and develop new short-run manufacturing services to our customers in the biosciences and lab equipment fields.  Thank you to the City of Sun Prairie for all your help in making this project happen.  We’re excited about our future here in Sun Prairie.”

The project more than doubles the size of their current facility, leaves room for future expansion, and will result in 24 new technical jobs being created.  InForm plans to have their site plan approved by the City and break ground yet this summer, and intends to open the new facility in early 2015.

The agreement was approved by the Sun Prairie City Council at its meeting on Tuesday night.

Mayor Jon Freund released the following statement:

“I could not be more pleased that InForm has decided to continue to grow here and expand their headquarters here in Sun Prairie.  Their additional investment in both real estate and quality new jobs is exactly what we want to see from the employers in our community, and we look forward to their continued growth for years to come.  Other technology and advanced manufacturing companies will hopefully take notice and follow InForm’s lead and invest in Sun Prairie.”

Council President Mary Polenske also added:

“InForm has been absolutely wonderful to work with.  I want to thank InForm for choosing to continue to grow in Sun Prairie, and for reminding us all what a great community Sun Prairie is as a place to do business.  Special thanks to Mr. Ed Raleigh for all of his hard work and cooperation in working with us on this project. We look forward to celebrating this new facility being opened in Sun Prairie in 2015.”

About InForm Product Development

InForm Product Development is a product design consulting firm founded in 1995.  They provide industrial design, mechanical/electrical engineering, and prototyping services to companies in a variety of industries and manufacturers. These industries include commercial, industrial, medical and military customers, including more than 250 customers ranging from both coasts of the United States, as well as international customers in Sweden, Germany, and the Czech Republic. They are currently located in the Sun Prairie Business Park (since 2000), and currently have 26 employees.  

Inc. magazine included InForm Product Development as part of its seventh annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies for 2013. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs.  They were also identified by Inc. as a Top 100 Engineering Company (#74) and a Top 100 Wisconsin Company (#79).

For more information, go to: http://www.in-form.com/.

About Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and the Sun Prairie Business Park

The Sun Prairie Business Park is one of the Greater Madison/Dane County’s oldest and most successful business parks, and it consists of more 300 acres, more than 40 companies and more than 2,600 employees calling it home.   Many of these companies are the City of Sun Prairie’s major employers including Thermal Spray Technologies, Wisconsin Distributors, Village Hearth, Hallman Lindsay Paints, Colony Brands, Four Lakes Label, Trachte Building Systems, Soderholm Foods, Palmer Johnson Power Systems, Badger Graphics, Datastore, Imperial Blades, Madison-Kipp Corporation, and WPPI Energy.

Competitive advantages of the Sun Business Park include excellent access to transportation infrastructure including U.S. 151, 1-39/90/94, STH 19 and the Wisconsin Southern Railroad. It is also located within 15 minutes of the Dane County Regional Airport. Access to the greater Madison area is extremely easy.  As a municipally-owned electric utility, rates and service levels are very competitive.  Sun Prairie as a whole remains one of the fastest growing communities in all of Wisconsin with one of the fastest growing retail areas in the State, and growing neighborhoods with housing options for all income levels.  It is also home to a $100 million high school that ensures the future education needs of our students will be met for a long time to come.