Doyle qualifies Alice.com, two other tech firms for investor tax credits

Doyle qualifies Alice.com, two other tech firms for investor tax credits

Madison, Wis.Gov. Jim Doyle today said the Department of Commerce has qualified three small businesses, including one that just landed more than $4 million in venture capital, for investor tax credits under the state’s angel investor and venture fund tax credit programs.
The qualified businesses include Alice.com of Middleton, an online market for household products that already has raised $4.3 million in funding in a round led by Kegonsa Partners and Dane Vest Tech Fund.
Alice.com was founded in June of 2008 by Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire, the creators of the online shopping network Jellyfish.com. Their new company is developing online software to ease the purchase of non-perishable home essentials and allow consumers to manage the purchase and delivery of home products like toothpaste, trash bags, and cleaning products .
The other technology companies to be certified for investor tax credits are:

  • Idle Free Systems of Watertown. Founded in 2003, the company is filing a patent for its Biofuel Flow System, which controls fuel temperatures to ensure the consistent flow of biofuel in vehicles, regardless of external temperature. The technology is designed to enable the year-round use of biofuels.
  • Promentis Pharmaceuticals, Milwaukee. Promentis, founded in March of 2008, is developing pharmaceuticals for the treatment of major psychiatric, behavioral, and neurological disorders. Its initial focus will be to develop a novel class of antipsychotic medications for the treatment of schizophrenia.

The tax credit programs offer Wisconsin income tax credits to angel investors and investors in seed-stage venture capital funds. The people that invest in the businesses are able to claim tax credits under the legislation enacted and signed into law in April 2004.
“Spurring additional venture capital investment is essential to the state’s economic growth,” Doyle said in a statement released by Commerce. “By encouraging investors to make crucial investments, we are turning great ideas into viable, job-creating businesses.
“Today, new technology firms are starting and expanding all across Wisconsin.”
The tax credits are available only for investments made in technology businesses qualified by Commerce. As Commerce qualifies businesses for investment, it lists them on its website.