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Portfolio Companies

Alvarri

(www.alvarri.com) is a company that has created innovative solutions using a data compression technology called deduplication. This technology greatly reduces the amount of bandwidth and storage required whenever there is data being sent that has redundant data, which deduplication eliminates in transmittal and storage, but retains the exact content. Applications include endpoint backup, virtual image backup, to disk to disk storage data and bandwidth reduction. Alvarri is a seed stage company created by the founders of Sistina, which was sold to RedHat.

Amphora Medical

(www.amphoramedical.com/) is a Minneapolis, MN based company that is developing a device-based therapy to treat Overactive Bladder (OAB).

Ativa Medical

(www.ativamed.com) is an emerging growth company developing the first micro-lab for comprehensive diagnostic testing at the patient's side. The company is focused upon comprehensive Point-of-Care (POC) testing, and is also committed to delivering an affordable diagnostic solution to decentralized healthcare settings all over the world. The spirit of our company is one driven to make a difference, and you can sense it in the culture of our team: together we are relentlessly developing a reliable system that will literally change lives. Located in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ativa is a privately-held, emerging growth diagnostic company led by a management team with vast experience in in vitro diagnostics. We have a proven history of successfully developing and commercializing novel POC diagnostic technologies.

Bard's Tale Beer Company

(www.bardsbeer.com) has developed and is distributing a craft beer that is gluten-free that has been acclaimed by beer fans and gluten-intolerant individuals that cannot drink conventional beers containing malt.

Cardia Access

(website under development) Cardia Access is a development stage company focused on enhancing the clinical performance of pacing, cardiac resynchronization and defibrillation therapy through advancements in lead design, placement and myocardial sensing & activation. The Company is developing innovative lead conductor technology that is patent protected and will enable the introduction of highly differentiated products into the large Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) marketplace. Cardia Access is initially focused on the development of leads that are highly reliable, have high manufacturability with low product cost, and enable valuable feature and product flexibility.

Cardialen, Inc.

(www.cardialen.com) is developing low-voltage implantable cardioverters to provide painless defibrillation for treatment of atrial and ventricular tachyarrhythmias. It will use low-energy pulsed unpinning therapy, to which it holds an exclusive global license jointly from Washington University in St. Louis and Case Western Reserve University, to achieve pain-free defibrillation. It will focus on atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFL), the most common cardiac arrhythmias worldwide. It anticipates that low-energy atrial cardioverters will help address unmet clinical needs, deliver pain-free therapy, reduce risk of stroke, lower healthcare costs and offer significant business opportunities. It will explore alliance opportunities for low-energy ventricular cardioverters. Implantable cardiovascular devices require extensive pre-clinical testing, clinical trials and regulatory approval in the US and major international markets. Cardialen has initiated preclinical testing, established offices in St. Louis, MO, and commenced product development in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN.

EcoEnvelopes LLC

(www.ecoenvelopes.com) is an environmentally conscious company with a proprietary line of reusable envelopes, label and postage concepts that reduce costs and benefit the environment. The company's innovative solutions meet the growing need of corporations to be more environmentally responsible and consumers desire to participate in environmental stewardship. EcoEnvelopes has enormous growth potential with reusable, two-way postage solutions that increase revenue, profit margins, operational efficiencies and reduce costs while delivering real environmental benefits.

Engineered Propulsion Systems

(www.eps.aero)) EPS brings advanced engine technology to today’s modern airplanes thus updating yesterday’s applications and as a result ensures the future of aviation. Today’s “modern” aircraft engines use dated technology reminiscent of 1930’s aircraft engines. These engines use leaded fuel that was banned in cars in the 1970’s. Our Vision 350 brings clean and efficient, “green” power to the forefront in the global aviation marketplace. Its use of Jet A, JP-8 or diesel fuel eliminates the need for the outdated, expensive and environmentally un-friendly leaded airplane fuel currently in use. The EPS engine affords pilots the opportunity to shift to a more advanced technology engine with a patented purpose-built design tailored for the individual aircraft application. EPS offers aircraft OEM’s access to developing general aviation markets in Asia, South America, Africa and other markets because of its fuel availability. With an emphasis on eliminating leaded airplane fuel the current fleet of more than 200,000 airplanes is at risk of having a forced retirement. The EPS Vision 350 is the answer for the future of light-weight airplane diesel engines. Its engine architecture answers the need to be light weight and reliable. It is the twenty first century airplane engine the market and pilots have been asking for.

MainStay Medical

(www.mainstay-medical.com) founded in Minneapolis, MN, this medical device company relocated to Ireland in 2013 and went public on the EuroNext in May 2014. Mainstay Medical is a medical device company which is developing an innovative implantable neurostimulation medical device, ReActiv8, for people with debilitating Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP). Low Back Pain is the leading cause of activity limitation and work absence throughout much of the developed world, imposing a high economic burden on individuals, families, communities, industry, and governments. The Company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland and has subsidiaries operating in the United States and Australia.

Marner

(www.marner.com ) Marner Storage Technologies develops intelligent network storage systems that offer the sophisticated features needed to manage today's rapidly growing information requirements without the complexities inherent in many storage systems available today. Utilizing standards-based technology augmented with patented innovative enhancements, our products offer: superior flexibility of configuration; scalability that includes both local and remote virtualization; simplicity of installation, maintenance and upgrade; better performance and reliability; and a smaller "footprint" in the datacenter, packing more storage into a smaller space. These advantages result in reduced operating expenses for our customers, in addition to the reduced acquisition costs offered by our products.

Once Innovations, Inc.

(www.onceinnovations.com) a privately-held company and leading developer of LED technologies, lamps, and packaging that are available to other technology companies and lighting manufacturers under licensing agreements. ONCE also designs, manufactures, and sells its line of poultry-specific AgriShift® lamps for broiler, breeder, layer, and turkey producers.

Perk Health

(http://perkhealth.me/) a privately-held Minneapolis, MN based company provides a mobile & web-based automated personal fitness coach for employees which customizes to individual users providing specific motivation, guidance & education, and encouragement to change their behavior and improve their health. The company was created to address the problem that physical inactivity in the US now kills more people than smoking and costs the healthcare system more than any other risk factor--a burden that falls heavily on US employers.

PlaCor, Inc.

(www.placorinc.com) is a privately-held company that has developed a simple, easy-to-use, proprietary test for platelet reactivity called the PRT™. Antiplatelet drugs, such as aspirin and Plavix®, reduce platelet reactivity and are prescribed to prevent heart attacks and strokes. However, up to 50% of people may not respond to these drugs and are at an increased risk for an adverse event. PlaCor’s PRT differs from other platelet reactivity tests in three important ways: only a fingerstick blood sample is needed, total test time is less than 10 minutes and the test mimics how platelets are activated in the body.

ReconRobotics Inc.

(www.recon-scout.com) based in Edina, has been formed to commercialize patented field-proven technology developed at the University of Minnesota Distributed Robotics Laboratory. The company designs, manufactures, deploys and supports miniature, mobile robotic systems and distributed robotic teams that are used by the military, and federal and municipal law enforcement agencies. These robots are specifically designed to save lives by providing real-time video reconnaissance about dangerous, hazardous or restricted environments.

TST Media

(www.tstmedia.com) is a leader in Web solutions for organizations and focuses on the amateur sports vertical and currently provides services to clients in all 50 states, each Canadian province, and countries around the world. The company's easy-to-use website platform for organizations, NGIN.COM (pronounced "Engine") is a powerful, easy-to-use website platform for organizations - a robust platform featuring a complete suite of timesaving tools that empower organizations and their members to connect online. Features include front-end website content management, member management, financial transactions, e-commerce activity, document storage, and social member interaction. The company takes pride in providing real software solutions to the real needs of formal organizations.

UnityWorks Media

(www.unityworksmedia.com) uses proprietary technology to create inexpensive, high-quality streaming video advertisements on the internet with an initial market focus on automotive dealerships. Streaming video ads are placed on the dealer’s own website, on 3rd party websites such as carsoup.com, and embedded into e-mail promotions issued by the dealer or one-on-one from a salesperson to a known prospect. These videos are hosted by UnityWorks Media. UnityWorks has developed an extremely cost effective and efficient platform for businesses to send powerful, media rich content to any personal computer regardless of configuration and bandwidth.

Vixar

(www.vixarin.com) develops and manufactures high performance visible light lasers. Our lasers, known as VCSELs, enable significant performance improvements in products as diverse as medical sensors and diagnostic equipment, industrial and military sensors, home and vehicle networks, and office equipment. Vixar provides innovative VCSEL components and solutions. The management team consists of leaders in the field of VCSELs since their initial commercialization in the early 1990’s. Vixar is located in Maple Grove, Minnesota.

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