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12.15.11 – Gruber presents to eFactor on Angel Investing

Cornerstone Angels Founder and Managing Director, Michael Gruber was a speaker at Efactor’s ‘Angel Investing: The Inside Scoop – Chicago’ held in downtown Chicago on December 15.

Michael was among a group of Angel Investors and CEOs/Founders who spoke about Angel Investing in Chicago. For more details on the event and future Efactor events please follow the link. Efactor Presents : Angel Investing

EFactor, the world’s largest entrepreneurial community, provides resources that every small business owner needs: funding, knowledge, gain revenue and save cost. At EFactor, entrepreneurs exchange ideas with experts, receive exclusive discounts on business tools, interact with potential partners or clients, and discover funding for their startups.

10.21.11 – Gruber selected to be a Mentor at Founder Institute’s Chicago Program

Cornerstone Angels Founder and Managing Director, Michael Gruber has been selected to be a Mentor at Founder Institute’s upcoming program in Chicago.

The Founder Institute is a global network of startups and mentors that helps entrepreneurs launch meaningful and enduring technology companies. Through their four month pre-seed incubator program, entrepreneurs can launch their company with expert training, feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs, while not being required to quit their day jobs. Their unique Bonus Pool also shares equity upside with all participants, creating local, teamwork-based ecosystems where great startups can flourish. More information on the program is available here.

The Founder Institute carefully recruits approximately 25 Mentors per Semester, who are normally the CEO or founder of a successful startup. The Mentors are selected based on their ability to convey lessons learned on a topic in the curriculum and help participating Founders by sharing their relevant experiences. Mentors are accessible to Founders in the program during the sessions and through email. The shared equity upside of each Semester encourages supportive and collaborative relationships with the Mentors.

Cornerstone Portfolio Company Fisker Automotive Listed in Global Cleantech Top 100

Cornerstone portfolio company Fisker Automotive has been selected to be in the 2011 Global Cleantech 100 List. Based on Cleantech Group data and vetted by a panel of international experts, this list is based on the collective opinion of the world’s cleantech leaders. Here is the link to the complete list of companies. Global Cleantech 100

Cornerstone Angels Co-Hosts the 2011 Great Lakes Entrepreneurial Bash – Nov 17, 2011

Cornerstone Angels is co-hosting the 2011 Great Lakes Entrepreneurial Bash, a featured event of the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurship Week.

We hope that you can join us in a celebration by and for company leaders where five amazing founders will share how they started and grew companies to $100 million+ success.

Date: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Location: UIC Forum

Time: 4:30pm Registration

5:00-7:00pm Panel & Reception

Registration: www.entrepbash.com

$55. Cornerstone Angels Members get a discount on the ticket, so please contact us for the discount code.

Speakers: Mike Domek, Founder, TicketsNow

Tony Faras, Founder, MGI Pharma

Ron Galowich, Founder, Initiate Systems & First Health Group Corp.

Jim Gray, Founder, optionsXpress

Dane Miller, Founder, Biomet

Moderator: Robert Jordan, Author, How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America

Hope to see you there!

Recent Interview by Gruber about Seed Stage Capital from Angel Investors

Cornerstone Angels Founder and Managing Director, Michael Gruber, recently gave an interview to sramanamitra.com regarding – Seed Stage Capital from Angel Investors. Sramanamitra.com is a start-up/entrepreneurship blog founded by Sramana Mitra, a renowned Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant. This interview is part of a series of interviews by the blog on financing for entrepreneurs.

You can access the interview by going to the following link. Click here for interview

Cornerstone Portfolio Company Advanced Diamond Closes $5.2MM in Series D Funding

Cornerstone has investments in Series C, and is pleased to announce that Advanced Diamond Technology just closed Series D Funding led by S-Group Capital Management.

ADT develops products that are enabled by thin smooth diamond. ADT is a World Economic Forum 2007 Technology Pioneer, recipient of a 2008 EuroAsia IC Award in the Materials Enabling category from EuroAsia Semiconductor, 2008 R&D 100 Award winner for UNCD Seals™ (mechanical seals for pumps), 2009 R&D 100 Award winner for NaDiaProbes® (AFM probes made entirely of diamond), and 2011 R&D 100 Award winner for its Integrated RF MEMS Switch/CMOS Device

S-Group is a private equity and venture capital company based in Moscow, Russia which focuses on growth opportunities in high-tech and consumer-oriented businesses.

For the press release please follow the link here: Press Release

Cornerstone Portfolio Company Force10 has been acquired by Dell, Inc.

Cornerstone had originally made an investment in Turin Networks, which was subsequently merged with Force10 Networks, and with Dell just announcing its definitive purchase agreement of the company.

Force10 Networks is the global technology leader that data center, service provider and enterprise customers rely on when the network is their business. The company’s high-performance solutions are designed to deliver new economics by virtualizing and automating Ethernet networks.

The press release announcing the acquisition can be found at the following link: Full Press Release

Cornerstone Portfolio Company: Amyris closes IPO, Strong Performance, Currently Valued at $1.3 Billion

Amyris Inc. completed its IPO on September 28, 2010 at $16 a share, raising $85 million with underwriters Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Amyris listed its common stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol AMRS.

With 40.4 million shares outstanding after the IPO, Amyris went public with a market capitalization of about $650 million. Marquee investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers invested in Amyris, along with Khosla Ventures and TPG Biotechnology Partners, and French oil giant Total.

The company has had strong after market performance and as of 6/6/11, the company had a market capitalization of $1.3 Billion.

Cornerstone Portfolio Company: SmartCells acquired by Merck for $500 million

On December 2, 2010, it was announced that SmartCells, Inc. entered into a definitive agreement under which Merck will acquire SmartCells.

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will acquire all outstanding stock of SmartCells, Inc. In return SmartCells shareholders will receive an upfront cash payment and be eligible to receive clinical development and regulatory milestones for products resulting from the transaction for potential aggregate payments in excess of $500 million. Sales-based payments for products resulting from the transaction will also be payable. SmartCells’ board of directors has unanimously approved the transaction.

SmartCells, Inc. is focused on developing glucose-regulated SmartInsulin products for the treatment of diabetes. The company’s core technology was originally developed at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology by its president, co-founder and chief executive officer Dr. Todd Zion. SmartCells has since developed the platform into several clinical candidates with the support of grant awards from the National Institutes of Health and a number of angel investors, including Cornerstone Angels.

Cornerstone Angels Partnership with Independence Equity

Cornerstone Angels has formed a partnership with Independence Equity, an early stage venture capital fund focused predominately across the cleantech and industrial sectors, to coordinate on diligence and investment syndication. Cornerstone Angels consistently screens and reviews over 250 deals a year, and Independence Equity is interested in reviewing appropriate opportunities within sectors of interest. Should Independence Equity invest in any of these Cornerstone sourced companies, Independence Equity will provide Cornerstone Angels with the opportunity to invest on side-by-side basis for a portion of the overall financing.

Two of Cornerstone Portfolio Companies on 2009 Global Cleantech 100 List

Fisker Automotive and Amyris, Inc. were selected to the 2009 Global Cleantech 100 list. The entire list can be found at http://cleantech.com/news/book/export/html/4954