Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

Dingman Center Sponsors

Gabriel Venture Partners ® is an early-stage venture capital firm committed to building capital-efficient market leaders of tomorrow by actively assisting entrepreneurs in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Gabriel is based in Silicon Valley and has over $260 million under management. Gabriel's investment team consists of seasoned technology entrepreneurs and industry executives, each with international operating experience and strong domain expertise. Representative investments include Placeware (acquired by Microsoft), NetScaler (acquired by Citrix), and Iridigm (acquired by Qualcomm), as well as India investments such as Allsec (IPO), IL&FS Investsmart (IPO), and Provogue (IPO).

Deloitte

Deloitte is an organization of member firms around the world devoted to excellence in providing professional services and advice, focused on client service through a global strategy executed locally in nearly 150 countries. With access to the deep intellectual capital of approximately 135,000 people worldwide, Deloitte delivers services in four professional areas — audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services — and serves more than one-half of the world's largest companies, as well as large national enterprises, public institutions, locally important clients, and successful, fast-growing global growth companies. Services are not provided by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Verein, and, for regulatory and other reasons, certain member firms do not provide services in all four professional areas.

RedShift Ventures

RedShift Ventures has established a record of success finding, funding, and building advanced technology companies of lasting value. They focus on a few key sub-sectors of the communications and information technology industries - areas which receive large amounts of research and development funding. RedShift leverages this funding and technology to create companies that provide compelling products and services to exciting new markets.

RedShift Ventures is trusted by their partners- the entrepreneurs whose ideas they help nurture, the limited partners and other venture capital firms who are co-investors, and the strategic partners that often retain a stake in the outcome.

Because of their track record, RedShift Ventures has built a strong network of contacts reaching deep into public and private research and development centers that provides us unique, perhaps unmatched, access to groundbreaking technologies.

Silicon Valley Bank

SVB Financial Group provides diversified financial services to emerging growth and mature companies in the technology, life science, private equity and premium wine markets. Through its focus on specialized markets and extensive knowledge of the people and business issues driving them, SVB Financial Group provides a level of service and partnership that measurably impacts its clients' success.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company offers its clients commercial, investment, merchant and private banking, as well as value-added services using its knowledge and networks. Merger, acquisition, private placement and corporate partnering services are provided through the company's investment banking subsidiary, SVB Alliant. Founded in 1983, SVB Financial Group serves nearly 11,000 clients around the world through 27 domestic offices, three international subsidiaries in the U.K., India and China, and an extensive network of relationships with venture capitalists in Asia, Australia, Europe, India, and Israel.

Core Capital Partners

Core Capital Partners is a $350 million private equity fund that provides capital to both early-stage technology ventures and small to mid-sized growth companies where technology is a driver of change in the business or sector. The common thread is that these companies are developing or incorporating disruptive technologies into their businesses. Core Capital Partners focus principally on the kinds of "core" or fundamental technologies that enable or enhance information, data and communication. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., most of the company's investments are made on the East Coast.

Backed by some of the country's most sophisticated and experienced institutional and individual investors who are often actively involved in the investment work, each year the company views thousands of potential transactions. Its extensive network of investors, bankers, service providers and entrepreneurs is critical to the company's ability to source attractive investment opportunities. Its initial investments are typically in the $2-10 million range and the company often serves as the lead investor.

Morrison Foerster

With more than a thousand lawyers in 18 offices around the world, Morrison & Foerster offers clients comprehensive, global legal services in business and litigation. The firm is distinguished by its unsurpassed expertise in finance, life sciences, technology, legendary litigation skills and an unrivaled reach across the Pacific Rim, particularly Japan and China. They have one compelling mission: to deliver success for their clients.

Emerging Technology Centers

The Emerging Technology Centers (ETC), a venture of the Baltimore Development Corporation, is a non-profit business incubator focused on growing early-stage technology and biotechnology companies. The ETC promotes economic development, providing business, technical, and networking connections to help these companies grow and prosper – adding to both the job and tax base of Baltimore City. To date, ETC client companies have received $817 million in outside investment and have been issued nearly 200 patents. Since 1999 ETC has provided assistance to 143 companies and 77 percent of its graduates are still in business.

ETC's two incubator facilities provide participating companies with direct, customized business assistance, including technical assessment, marketing assistance, business modeling, mentoring, and access to funding sources in addition to a wide array of physical amenities, including fully wired office space, flexible leases, shared basic services and equipment, and technology support. Go to www.etcbaltimore.com to learn more about ETC or contact Neil Davis at (443) 451-7002.

Montgomery County Business Incubator Network

Managed by the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, the Business Incubator Network offers the infrastructure and resources needed to facilitate the growth and success of young biotech, advanced technology and business services companies, thereby stimulating job creation to benefit the local economy.

Since 1999, graduates of the County's Business Incubator Network have added over 1,000 jobs to the local economy. The National Business Incubator Association estimates that four out of five new businesses fail within the first five years, while 80 percent of firms cultivated in an incubator are still in business after that same time period. Successful graduates include: Aeras Global Foundation, Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Nextone, Tetracore and Visual Networks.