Robert Litan: Group helps early stage companies grow

Kansas is what venture capitalists call a “flyover state,” one of most states between the coasts where the big venture capital and angel investor money is and tends to remain. This is why some Kansans, and residents and entrepreneurs in other such states, so often complain about the difficulties they have in stimulating entrepreneurship.

It increasingly is an excuse, not a reason for subpar new firm formation and growth. The reason is that there is plenty of money here in Wichita and elsewhere available to be tapped. The real challenge is having what investors call “deal flow,” worthy business ideas led by capable entrepreneurs with whom investors are willing to trust their money.

Several weeks ago I wrote about the new business accelerator in town, e2e, that already has mobilized more than $10 million in equity investments in two Wichita companies, and should do much more. But long before e2e, the Wichita Technology Corp. began doing something similar, mostly under the radar.

WTC was launched in the early 1990s with state funds, with a mission to provide seed investments in new, scalable companies, largely based on technology developed locally, especially at Wichita State University. Over time, the state contribution has gone down and WTC adjusted its business model to become self-sustaining through fee-for-service revenue generation.

Trish Brasted has worked her way up to being WTC’s chief executive officer, a position she has held for 16 years. During that time, she has widened the geographic range of WTC’s operations in order to find the best deals. WTC now covers not only the entire state of Kansas but has investments in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri. The companies cover a broad spectrum of industries, including advanced materials, pharmaceutical delivery, ag tech, manufacturing, and software and information technology.

WTC invests primarily at an early stage in a company’s life – usually when it has some revenue, a first customer and a recognized path to growth. The WTC team provides a variety of business assistance, often working closely with Pipeline, a Kansas City-based organization originally launched with Kansas state funds and now funded with foundation and investors’ money. Pipeline has an outstanding multiyear record of using peer group coaching and third party mentors to boost the growth of companies with strong potential.

Over the past 10 years, WTC has assisted hundreds of early stage entrepreneurs, mobilized more than $30 million from affiliate entities alongside $157 million in capital from other partners, and invested in more than 50 high-growth companies.

Even as WTC has expanded the range of investments and activities, it still is very much interested in and tied to Wichita. Brasted believes that Wichita is on an upward entrepreneurial trend, especially with the new emphasis on entrepreneurship at Wichita State pushed by president John Bardo and the development of entrepreneurial networks such as 1 Million Cups (where Brasted has been part of the organizing team).

WTC also expects to work closely with the new e2e accelerator in the coming months and years. She can be reached through WTC’s website, wichitatechnology.com.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Robert Litan: Group helps early stage companies grow."