From Brick to Tech City: Venture Capital and University Resources to Make Newark a Technology Hub

Wed, Jun 15, 2011 02:25 CET

Rutgers Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development announces partnership with H360 Capital and NJIT aimed at attracting early stage technology firms to Newark

NEWARK, NJ, June 14, 2011 – Building on the momentum created by the White House Urban Entrepreneurship Summit held at Rutgers-Newark on June 6, The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED), H360 Capital, a minority-run early stage venture capital firm, and NJIT’s Enterprise Development Center (EDC), announced a partnership to attract technology companies toNewark.

Charlotte-based H360 Capital is a minority-run venture capital firm with a particular focus on companies developing ‘market disrupting’ technologies. Through its “Big Ideas Initiative: B2i,” H360 Capital has committed to investing up to $50,000 in 20 technology start-ups in theNewarkarea. CUEED and NJIT will provide resources and support to entrepreneurs participating in the Big Ideas program.

“We are working with H360 Capital to help bring many of its current and future portfolio companies toNewark,” said Dr. dt ogilvie, Founding Director of CUEED. “This follows Mayor Cory Booker’s announcement during the Urban Entrepreneurship Summit that he wanted to attract more technology toNewark. We have been working with H360 to shape our relationship to do this and agreed during the White House Summit to form this partnership. One of the stated goals of the partnership is to attract 20 early stage technology firms to this area by 2012, and H360 Capital itself has announced that it is moving its headquarters fromNorth Carolinato theNew Jersey/New Yorkregion.”

“We are convinced that this is the right step and will provide the greatest value for technology entrepreneurs we fund,” said Hezekiah Griggs III, Managing Partner of H360 Capital. “When I formed the thesis for H360 Capital, I wanted it to be able to have a significant impact on a city likeNewarkby creating a private-public partnership in which all parties are invested in the espousal of innovation as a solution to broad community-related economic concerns. This announcement establishes that we will have a very large footprint inNewark, and we intend to evangelize the vision that all parties share: transformingNewarkinto an important hub for technology firms over the next 10 years. We are grateful toCUEED Director Dr.dt ogilvie for her efforts.”

“This is a great day for CUEED’s ongoing economic development activities,” said Dr. Jerome Williams, Rutgers Business School Prudential Chair and Research Director of CUEED. “We are exploring a “technology park” joint venture with H360 that could serve as a magnet for other high-tech firms. H360 Capital’s investment activities will spur the kind of entrepreneurial revival that CUEED has been seeking, one that will help bring technology, jobs, and opportunities toNewark.”

Newarkis home to five Universities – Rutgers-Newark, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT),UniversityofMedicineand Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ),SetonHallLawSchool, andEssexCommunity College– so there is already a strong technology base to build on.

NJIT’s Enterprise Development Center (EDC) has been offering tech and life sciences entrepreneurs training, affordable facilities (offices and laboratories), and access to University and industry collaboration since 1988.

Judith Sheft, Associate Vice President for Technology Development at NJIT, said “The EDC was cited by the Council on Competitiveness as ‘benchmark example of a successful technology-based incubator.’ Cooperation between NJIT, Rutgers, and H360 Capital will help driveNewarkto become a newSilicon Valley.”

About CUEED

The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED) atRutgersBusinessSchoolis the first center of its kind in the nation to integrate scholarly works with private capital, government, and non-profit sectors to develop citywide resources and bring renewed economic growth and vitality through urban entrepreneurship. CUEED promotes and fosters a new generation of urban entrepreneurs who actively seek socially conscious urban renaissance.

About H360 Capital

H360 Capital is an angel venture capital firm based in NJ/NY area, with regional hubs inCharlotte,NCandAustin,TX. The firm invests in early-stage start-ups with market-disrupting ideas. Innovation is considered key to H360’s investments, as they are typically new ideas that either change a market, or create new markets. Learn more about H360 Capital online at: H360Capital.com

About The Enterprise Development Center at NJIT

TheEnterpriseDevelopmentCenteris currently home to over 90 high-tech and life-science companies.

It is located within the campus of New Jersey Institute of Technology, the state’s science and technology university. EDC companies have access to NJIT facilities and can partner with researchers to help grow their businesses. The EDC is in the heart ofNewark’sUniversity HeightsScienceParkand the Newark Innovation Zone.

Contacts:

CUEED: The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & EconomicDevelopmentRutgersBusinessSchool

1WashingtonPark – 10th floor

Newark,NJ07102

Tel: 973-353-5987

www.business.rutgers.edu/cueed

H360 Capital

Press/Media Relations

NJ/NY: 201-815-4360

Charlotte: 704-389-0360

info@h360capital.com

NJITEnterpriseDevelopmentCenter