The Chautauqua (County) Seed Fund has invested $20,000 in Henlie, Inc., a tenant/client of our supporting member the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator. Henlie is the developer of an online dispute resolution community branded PettyCourt. Petty Court will target market segments including reality TV viewers, social-network members, and online gamers. 

The Chautauqua Seed Fund was created by county government specifically to complement the services of the incubator and improve the prospects for private financing of the best-qualified tenants. The $125,000 fund invests between $15,000 and $30,000 in each deal through convertible notes, requiring a 30% equity match by the founders.

Funded by the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency, the Chautauqua Seed Fund is a collaboration of the Fredonia Technology Incubator, County Executive Gregory Edwards, and the Chautauqua Region Industrial Development Corporation. The fund's investment committee comprises local bankers and business/civic leaders as well as the incubator director.

For more information see the attached news release or coverage by WKBW.

Our member the Central New York Biotechnology Research Center (CNY BRC) is searching for an executive director. The CNY BRC is a biotech incubator cofounded by SUNY Upstate Medical University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, both in Syracuse. The incubator is currently under construction and due to open later this year. The search is being handled by Sockwell Partners; the job description along with contact information is attached to this post. 

In a Business First segment, WKBW visited our supporting member the Thomas Beecher Jr. Innovation Center at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The segment features BNMC COO, serial entrepreneur, and Innovation Center champion Pat Whalen describing how the lobby pool table encourages tenant interaction and even joint venturing. Text here and video after the break. The Innovation Center is a major sponsor of the association's annual meeting in Buffalo this year. 

Robert Fritzinger, director of our supporting member the SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator and a serial technology entrepreneur, was appointed to the SUNY Patents and Inventions Policy Board at the Research Foundation for SUNY, according to coverage in the Dunkirk Observer. Bob's bio, which describes how he sold one of his Western New York startups to the computer chip-maker Intel, is here. The SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator is a sponsor of our association's annual meeting, as is the Research Foundation.