From Brick to Tech City: Venture Capital and University resources to make Newark technology hub

June 16, 2011 - PRLog -- 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 to Newark.
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 the Newark area. 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 to Newark,” said Dr. dt ogilvie, Founding Director of CUEED. “This follows Mayor Cory Booker’s announcement during the Urban Entrepreneurship Summit that he wanted to bring more technology to Newark. 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 from North Carolina to the New Jersey/New York region.”

ENTREPRENEURS GATHERED AT THE WHITE HOUSE URBAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT HELD ON JUNE 6 AT RUTGERS-NEWARK. THE CENTER FOR URBAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (CUEED) AT RUTGERS BUSINESS SCHOOL PARTNERED WITH THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO HOST THE EVENT.
 
“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 like Newark by 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 in Newark, and we intend to evangelize the vision that all parties share: transforming Newark into an important hub for technology firms over the next 10 years. We are grateful to CUEED 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 to Newark.”
Newark,  is home to five Universities—Rutgers-Newark, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), Seton Hall Law School, and Essex Community 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 drive Newark to become a new Silicon Valley.”  
About CUEED
The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED) at Rutgers Business School is 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 in Charlotte, NC and Austin, 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
The Enterprise Development Center is currently home to over 90 high-tech and life-science companies. It is located within the campus of New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey’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 of Newark’s University Heights Science Park and the Newark Innovation Zone.

Contacts:
CUEED: The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development Rutgers Business School
1 Washington Park – 10th floor
Newark, NJ 07102
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
NJIT Enterprise Development Center
211 Warren Street
Newark, New, Jersey 07103
Tel: 973 643-4063
www.njit-edc.org

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