IllinoisVENTURES
IllinoisVENTURES, LLC is a venture capital firm that received funding from the state of Illinois until it was cut off by Governor Blagojevich in 2008. In 2003 the trustees of the University of Illinois authorized the firm to manage the Illinois Emerging Technologies Fund. The LLC invests in early stage Midwestern companies.
The firm has offices in Chicago and Champaign/Urbana.
Despite being founded 7 years ago, the firm has yet to see any significant returns on its investments, and the firm's management has not given projections on when positive returns are expected.
Finances
The state of Illinois invested in IllinoisVENTURES in 2005. In 2007 IllinoisVENTURES had its budget cut by almost 20% by the state. However, the LLC does generate some minor revenues by subleasing its office space.
In 2007 the Illinois Auditor General, William Golden, released, in his required annual audit, a report that IllinoisVENTURES used University of Illinois resources without reporting or recording the transactions. It was also found that IllinoisVENTURES did not require all employees to submit time sheets as required by the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act.
In 2008, Illinois Gov. Blagojevich announced that IllinoisVENTURES would "receive no funding".
Portfolio
IllinoisVENTURES' portfolio includes Riverglass which has a shot of becoming profitable this year, according to its CEO. In addition, Caden Biosciences, and Solidware are other IllinoisVENTURES companies.
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