MILWAUKEE, Sept. 3, 2014 – BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc. today announced the formation of a partnership agreement with gener8tor, a Milwaukee- and Madison-based business accelerator that invests in technology-enabled, rapidly scalable, early stage companies. BrightStar has made a commitment to invest $50,000 in each company that comes out of the bi-annual gener8tor accelerator program that meets BrightStar’s mission and main investment criteria, creating high-quality jobs in Wisconsin. The most recent class had five participants that were picked from nearly 400 applicants. “BrightStar's partnership enables gener8tor to attract and retain the region's most promising new companies,” said Joe Kirgues, gener8tor co- founder. “We're thrilled to partner with BrightStar as we continue our shared mission of improving our community through job and wealth creation.”
BrightStar also announced that its investment committee has authorized funding for two new companies: Forward Health Group Inc. and Swallow Solutions LLC, both based in Madison. These investments total $400,000. The companies were first screened for their ability to create a sufficient number of quality jobs and then passed the committee’s investment criteria for their stage of development.
“BrightStar is very excited to commit to two companies that improve the standard of care and overall costs within health care,” said Dan Matola, CFA, chief investment officer at Jacobus Wealth Management and BrightStar investment committee member. “Swallow Solutions offers a medical device and therapy to help treat dysphagia, a huge cause of patient re-admittance, and Forward Health allows health systems to better leverage the vast amount of data they collect in health records to improve treatment and allocation of resources.”
BrightStar is a 501(c)(3)-designated non-profit foundation created to facilitate job creation and increase Wisconsin’s economic activity by deploying donated funds into equity stakes in early stage rapid growth companies. Entrepreneurs interested in learning more about the businesses of these companies may contact the foundation’s portfolio manager, Todd Sobotka, at tsobotka@brightstarwi.org.