Contact: Jim Gardner, Executive Director of University Communications, (973) 596-3433
Contact: Carla Anderson, Director of Public Relations, (973) 596-3438
Contact: Brendan McKeon, ACE-Net coordinator, Small Business Administration, (202) 205-7749
Small Businesses Putting Their Stock in New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, N.J., April 17, 1998 – The New Jersey Institute of Technology, recently rated the second "most wired" campus in the country by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine, will soon roll out a nationwide Internet-based listing service for investors who are interested in funding startup technology companies.
Dubbed the "Angel Capital Electronics Network," the service -- sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington and administered through the university's Enterprise Development Center --goes on-line April 30th. It is one of 16 regional sites across the country, and will list emerging technology companies in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut that need between $250,000 and $5 million in financing.
The university, together with the SBA, is marking the rollout with a grand opening in the Hazell Student Center Ballroom from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 30th. It will feature a detailed demonstration and panel discussion by Jere Glover, chief counsel for the office of Advocacy at the Small Business Administration; Stash Lisowski, director of the Enterprise Development Center at NJIT, and Gary Thomas, University Provost.
The SBA chose NJIT for its Northeast site because of the university's established reputation in both technology and economic development.
"We are looking forward to having NJIT join ACE-Net as a regional operator," said Fred Tarpley, a chief economist at SBA. "NJIT’s national reputation and central location in the greater New York-New Jersey area makes the university a logical ACE-Net operational site."
"Emerging companies now have a vehicle to find investment anywhere in the United States to further their growth," said Lisowski. "Businesses that receive capital from angel investors will be able to grow, hire more employees, potentially increase exports and strengthen the economy."
ACE-Net grew out of the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business, and was announced by President Clinton in October 1996.
It is designed to target those companies that can raise up to $250,00 through family, friends and founders, but have difficulty finding capital in the next round of financing.
Here's how it works:
"Angel" investors -- typically wealthy individuals with significant business experience -- can register for access to ACE-Net at NJIT, where they are given a password that will allow them to log onto the system through their personal computer.
They can search for companies they might be interested in by entering keywords such as city, state and dollars requested into a specially designed Internet search engine. They can also designate specific search criteria, so the system will e-mail the investor whenever a company is listed that meets his or her needs.
For the companies that list on ACE-Net, a yearly fee of $450 buys quick and efficient access to potential investors.
"Registering an offering in more than one state costs 10 percent to 20 percent of the amount of money a company wants to raise," said Terry Bibbens, SBA entrepreneur in residence.
Each year, angels invest about $20 billion in more than 30,000 different ventures, according to the SBA, while some 350,000 companies are looking for money.
NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,200 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in 76 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science. U.S. News and World Report's "1998 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges" ranked NJIT among the top 175 national universities. Money Magazine's "Best College Buys 1998" rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology colleges and universities.
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