News & Insights from TechFW

Bigger. Stronger. More Inclusive. More Diverse.  Let’s build a bigger ecosystem for entrepreneurs and startup founders.  Let’s build a stronger support network for innovators.  Let’s expand on what TechFW has built and proved over its 20+ year history and scale to reach new heights.  Let’s build! We are in the long game. We are looking 20, maybe 30 years into the future. The seeds we plant today and the small steps we take today will lead to transformation during the coming d

This cup of coffee means more.   We at TechFW are in the business of improving lives through technology.   Here is one of many stories where a life was changed through one of our clients, Ampcare:   "This will make your day!" That's how the message from Kelli Mikkelson (SLP) to Ampcare co-founder Ronda Polansky began.   Ronda was open to anything that makes for a good day. (Aren’t we all?)   "I’ve been meaning to tell you I had the best patient ever!” said Kelli, who proceede

They had no business plan! They had no investors! They had an idea and built a product with the best of their abilities and tried to sell it.   “When we started this, I thought we had like a 20-30% chance that we were going to succeed. It was a surprise – we had no idea we were going to be doing this.” -Co-Founder, Jerry Boonyaratanakornkit   Last fall, Exact Diagnostics, a company formed by Boonyaratanakornkit and Richie Petronis in 2015 and a TechFW client since, was sold f

You may remember Our Story from the 2019 Impact Showcase. Well, they just won a National Pitch Competition and $75,000 from FedEx  ! What an accomplishment! Congratulations to the team at Our Story! Read more about this story at The Business Press .

The nonprofit technology incubator TechFW has accepted six startups with individual ideas into its ThinkLab program. ThinkLab is a12-to-16 weeks, structured program that evaluates the marketability of the business ideas. The program provides skills training on engaging potential stakeholders, professional legal and accounting services and access to TechFW facilities. Read the full story at The Business Press .

Amanda Micallef is the Co-Founder & President at Arsenic ,  a user submission-based digital platform magazine. Its youth-driven, provocative lifestyle has a large following among Millennials. Previously, Micallef spent 12 years as a producer of film, music video and commercial productions, where she was responsible for all aspects of projects, from inception through distribution. Amanda is a board member of Jamak (the largest privately owned, international silicone manufactur

Two health care technology companies and a product to increase crop yields will be recognized at the 10th annual TechFW IMPACT Awards luncheon on Oct. 9. Read more at The Business Press

Nuvothera presented to Cowtown Angels for a follow-on funding round Sept. 16. It is seeking dollars to support the launch of its newest product, a treatment for scalp psoriasis. This was the second time the skin-focused biotech company has presented to the Fort Worth-based angel investor group. Led by CEO Art Clapp, Nuvothera raised $2.06M in equity from Cowtown Angels  in February 2018, primarily for its psoriasis treatment, Prosoria. “There is a huge need for Prosoria,” Cla

TechFW recognized four local technology entrepreneurs at its ninth-annual IMPACT Awards Luncheon. The annual event — which took place Tuesday, Oct. 17, at Texas Christian University’s Brown Lupton University Union — aims to “celebrate the global impact of emerging technologies.” Academic director of the Entrepreneurship Center at TCU’s Neeley School of Business, Keith Hmieleski says that at TCU the focus on entrepreneurship is value-driven. He added that eight out of the ten

SmartStart ™   graduate Encore Vision, a Fort Worth startup that developed an eye-drop to treat presbyopia, was bought by Novartis for $465M. In an SEC filing, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant that owns Alcon put the preliminary fair value of the transaction at $465 million. Novartis reported that the deal includes an initial cash payment of $375 million “before ordinary purchase price adjustments,” plus $90 million due Encore shareholders over time “upon achievement of specifi

This is the first "exit" (sale) by the Cowtown Angels members of a company they met through TechFW's Cowtown Angels program. Encore Vision has been a client of TechFW since 2008, when Bill Burns was one of the very earliest clients in what is now called the ThinkLab program. Novartis buying Fort Worth eye-care startup Encore Vision Bill Burns, founder of Encore Vision, and Les Kreis, who runs a local venture capital firm and is involved with the Cowtown Angels investor networ

The global drugmaker AstraZeneca said Friday that it has a definitive agreement to buy the former North Texas startup ZS Pharma for $2.7 billion. The deal marks a stellar rise for the biopharmaceutical company, which got an early assist from state’s tech fund and a Fort Worth technology incubator. ZS Pharma, which is now based in San Mateo, Calif., and has offices in Coppell, uses a proprietary technology called ion-trap to develop treatments for high potassium levels in the