Great Lakes Venture Capital Conference Set for Nov. 13

Great Lakes Venture Capital Conference Set for Nov. 13

CHICAGO – The Great Lakes Venture Capital Conference (GLVCC), which held its last event in June 2002, is currently seeking presenters for its November 13 program.
Organizers of the GLVCC, which is targeting companies that are seeking second or later round investment opportunities, say the event will reflect the cautious optimism seen in the long-distressed venture markets.
“There is a more positive mood among investors this year than there was a year ago as we’ve seen a pickup in IT spending,” said Scott Glickson of Chicago-based Gordon & Glickson, one of the event’s organizers. “The capital markets have settled down and we’ve begun to normalize.”
Glickson added that the criteria for presenting will be more “relaxed” than in years past. While in previous years presenters were required to have already secured an institutional round of funding, have a management team in place and have revenue, there is no such mandate for prospective presenters this year.
This is not to infer, of course, that companies lacking these attributes will be able to attract institutional funding. Glickson added: “The reality of the marketplace is that in order to secure funding, you need to have revenues.”
The GLVCC, which will be held at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, will be well represented by the Chicago VC community.
The Illinois Venture Capital Association and New World Ventures are among the gold sponsors of the event. Additional investor sponsors include Apex Venture Partners, Baird Venture Partners, Chrysalis Ventures, CID Equity Partners, Duchossois TECnology Partners, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, the Illinois Coalition, MK Capital, OCA Ventures, Prism Capital and River Cities Capital Funds.
“Consistent with the last 12 to 18 months, the venture capital community is looking for more of a proof of concept and companies with experienced management teams,” said Chris Gergenti, managing partner at New World Ventures.
Despite previous reports, the GLVCC will not be merging with the Illinois Venture Capital Conference (IVCC), which held its last event in Sept. 2002.
Mark Glennon, vice president of Leo Capital Holdings and founder of the IVCC, says his organization will hold a Midwest Venture Summit on April 29, 2004. The focus of that event will be on technology transfer.
“We are continuing to try to merge our conference with one or more of the regional conferences,” Glennon said, adding that the Midwest Venture Summit will have the support of the Illinois Venture Capital Association.
The Chicago Software Association will also be holding its 10th Annual Early Stage Investment Conference on Sept. 16 at the Fairmont Hotel.
Disclosure: The GLVCC is an advertiser with ePrairie.
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Spirrison co-founded ePrairie after serving as associate editor of Private Equity Week, a unit of Thomson Financial. Spirrison previously served as a producer for FOX Sports and CBS. He holds a master’s degree in communications/media ecology from New York University and a bachelor’s from Emory University.