Wisconsin Private Equity
The Wisconsin Private Equity
Program is focused on venture capital partnerships active in Wisconsin and
the Midwest. The program is an outgrowth of SWIB’s broader interest in
private equity funds that began in the mid-1980s. Currently, four venture
capital firms have commitments from SWIB. They are three Wisconsin-based
firms:
Venture Investors (Madison),
Mason Wells (Milwaukee),
Baird Venture Partners (Milwaukee) and Frazier Technology, a Seattle firm with an office in
Madison.
These firms are operating in Wisconsin with interests covering a range of
technologies, including biomedical, life science, business service and
enterprise software and applied technology (such as wireless devices, fuel
cells). Together, these firms include investments from providing seed money to
new companies to providing additional funds for growth. The funds in the
portfolio include:
|
Fund Name |
Established
|
SWIB's Total Commitment
|
|
Mason Wells Biomedical Fund |
2000
|
$ 25,000,000
|
|
Venture Investors Early
Stage III |
2000
|
$ 20,000,000
|
|
Baird Venture Partners I (B) |
2003
|
$ 30,000,000
|
|
Frazier Technology Ventures II |
2004
|
$
60,000,000
|
|
Venture Investors Early
Stage IV |
2006
|
$
25,000,000
|
|
Baird Venture Partners III |
2008
|
$ 25,000,000
|
|
Total |
|
$185,000,000
|
SWIB has invested in four
venture capital partnerships. The first initiative was approved in April
1999 with a proposal to invest up to $50 million in nonpublic healthcare and
biotechnology companies in Wisconsin and the Midwest. Out of the $50
million, $45 million was allocated to Mason Wells Biomedical Fund I in
Milwaukee and Venture Investors Early Stage Fund III, based in Madison.
The
second initiative, approved in 2002, was to invest up to $100 million in
venture capital funds active in Wisconsin. The investment focus was extended
to all emerging technologies. In April, 2003, a total of $90 million was
allocated to Baird Venture Partners Fund I (B) and Frazier Technology
Ventures II, a Seattle-based fund with a Madison office. In December 2005,
an investment of up to $50 million in nonpublic healthcare, biotechnology
and emerging technologies located in Wisconsin and the Midwest was approved.
Out of the $50 million, $30 million, including a side-by-side commitment,
was allocated to Venture Investors Early Stage Fund IV.
In 2008, SWIB
invested $25 million in Baird Venture Partners Fund III. Baird Venture
Partners. In addition to the $25 million commitment, $15 million was
committed for direct co-investments in portfolio companies in Wisconsin that
have been financed or will be financed by partnership funds SWIB has
invested in over the past nine years. The $40 million approved for
investments meant the entire $200,000,000 allocated to the Wisconsin Venture
Capital initiative was fully committed.
White Paper on SWIB's
Commitment to the Wisconsin Venture Capital Landscape
Private Equity Investing