Chicago, IL — Mar 27, 2012 — Independence Equity Partner Larry Hayward shall act as coach to a student team at University of Illinois Golder Center’s Private Equity Case Competition.

The Golder Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance’s Private Equity Case Competition focuses on providing undergraduate students with the opportunity to experience the work of an analyst at a private equity firm, as well as develop skills integral to such positions. Teams with 3 to 5 members compete by analyzing a company to make recommendations about their firm’s potential investment. At the final competition, teams present their work to a panel of distinguished industry professionals. The coach will be a real world resource for the students to use while working through their case and putting together their presentation.

For more information on this event, click here.

Northbrook, IL (March 19, 2012) – Independence Equity I LP, an early-stage venture fund, announces an investment in Intellihot Green Technologies, Inc (IGT).  IGT’s tankless water heater reduces water and energy waste and reduces installation and operating costs.

With conventional water heaters, a substantial amount of water is wasted after a user opens the tap and awaits the arrival of hot water; the IGT design can provide instant hot water, reducing water wasted when people run their faucets excessively before use.

IGT units can be installed in both retrofits and new construction.  The company has demonstrated 40% lower natural gas consumption with its unit and a capital investment up to 50% lower than the boiler/tank system that it replaces in commercial applications.  The IGT unit also provides a more consistent heat profile than systems in the market today, a common complaint from users of existing tankless water heaters.

IGT has filed several patents covering fundamental design as well as specific elements of the system. Novel features include a self-learning software system, de-scaling techniques, remote monitoring, and master-less cascading that eliminates over-designs commonly used to ensure peak period hot water availability

According to Independence Equity Partner Laurence Hayward, “It is rare that we see an opportunity to invest in a technology that preserves two precious natural resources.  The Intellihot technology saves energy and water.  While “tankless” water heaters have been around for several years, Intellihot has built a much better mousetrap, which should enable tankless solutions to capture a much greater share of the large market for water heaters.  This in turn reduces energy use and reduces water waste.  We are pleased to take part in bringing this important technology to market.”

IGT is located in Galesburg, IL, making it the only company that designs and assembles tankless water heaters in the United States. It serves both residential and commercial markets and has several large scale deployments including the federal penitentiary in Pekin, IL.

Contact:  Laurence K. Hayward, 847.739.0100

Chicago, IL — Dec 16, 2011 Independence Equity Partner Michael Gruber shall speak on the Green Building Panel at the Energy Investment Forum in Austin, TX, with such conference taking place January 25-26. Gruber’s panel will discuss topics relating to green building materials, energy efficiency, and exciting developments in lighting, material, building management systems and demand & supply response systems.

For further details on the conference see the following link. Energy Investment Forum

Chicago, IL — Dec 15, 2011 Independence Equity Partner 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.

Northbrook, IL (December 14, 2011) – Independence Equity I LP, an early-stage venture fund announces an investment in Champaign, Illinois-based Autonomic Materials, Inc (AMI).  The company provides innovative self-healing polymeric systems that are capable of autonomically repairing themselves after damage (coating systems such as paints that self-repair when scratched or damaged).

According to Independence Equity Partner Laurence Hayward, “Corrosion costs society in excess of 500 Billion dollars annually.  While coatings have improved significantly, they ultimately fail when damaged, which exposes the underlying substrate to the elements.  AMI is commercializing the first truly self-healing coating technology that addresses this issue.  The potential benefits include reduction in material waste, safer structures and less frequent reapplications and maintenance.”

AMI’s products are based on extensive research from the Autonomous Materials Systems (AMS) Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Group developed and patented technologies for the production of self-healing polymer systems. AMI’s technology adds protection to high-value structures which are exposed to environmental stresses. Their systems are engineered to lengthen coating lifetimes, thereby reducing the costs (principally labor) and disruption associated with the recoating of surfaces.

AMI is currently working with more than a dozen potential customers and product specifiers, which include major coatings producers and end-users.

About Independence Equity: Independence Equity I, LP is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on technologies that improve resource utilization.  These include technologies that reduce input costs such as raw materials, energy and labor, improve yield in production processes, or decrease waste or scrap. The fund’s interests comprise sectors such as material science, industrial innovation, and clean technologies (“cleantech”).

Contact: Laurence K. Hayward, 847.739.0100

Chicago, IL — Oct 21, 2011 IE Partner 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.

San Francisco, CA — Sep 16, 2011 — IE partner Larry Hayward spoke at Opal’s 2011 Private Equity Summit for Institutional Investors held in San Francisco, California on September 16.

Organized by the Opal Financial Group, the private equity conference investigated a variety of investment avenues and the most effective strategies for investing in each by calling upon leaders across the industry from investment advisory firms, private equity funds and PE advisors within institutions. Larry Hayward spoke about the various financing techniques available to small businesses, including sources, tactics and methods.

For more information on this event, click here.

The fund completed an investment this week in Libertyville, Illinois-based 10x Technology, LLC. 10x develops and manufactures micro- and nano-structured polymer substrates that have applications in the Energy, Medical, Electronics, Transportation and Military sectors. Products range from micro-needle arrays for transdermal drug delivery to Fresnel lenses for solar concentrator systems. The founder of 10x Technology, Mr. Robert Pricone, is the inventor behind the first micro-prismatic retro-reflective sheeting for high brightness traffic signs which are now found worldwide. EVONIK Industries, a world leading manufacturer of acrylic sheet and molding compounds and bulk and performance monomers, is a strategic alliance partner of 10x.

Chicago, IL — June 21, 2011 — IE partners Michael Gruber, as a moderator, and Larry Hayward, as a panelist, will be part of a panel discussion on ‘Cleantech Market Trends’ organized by ACG Chicago on June 21st. ACG Chicago’s panel of private equity, venture capital, investment analyst, and government expertise shall provide an honest understanding of the opportunities and risks involved in this sector and how the Midwest will participate. Key areas of discussions will include –

• Hot areas of investment
• What has gone out of favor
• Activity across the whole Capital Markets space (PE/VC/Angel)
• Outlook for Government support

For more information on the event and registration as well as information on ACG Chicago please follow the link. Registration for Event

Contact: Michael Gruber, 847.739.0100, mgruber@independence-equity.com

Chicago, IL — May 13, 2011 — Independence Equity partner Michael Gruber has recently been elected to the Board of Advisors for DailyDAC. DailyDAC is a bi-weekly e-newsletter aimed at active investors focusing on investing in or acquiring companies in transition or their assets. Michael is authoring a weekly column on angel and venture capital investing.