ANN ARBOR – The Wolverine Venture Fund, part of the University of Michigan’s Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Ross School of Business, announced Tuesday that it has another exit for one of its portfolio companies, Mobius Microsystems. Financial details were not announced.
A leader in precision all-silicon oscillator technology, Mobius Microsystems was acquired by IDT (Integrated Device Technology), a provider of essential mixed signal semiconductor solutions that enrich the digital media experience. The transaction closed on Jan. 14, handing Michigan business students their fourth portfolio-company exit since the fund’s inception in 1998.
The WVF provided a seed investment to Mobius Microsystems in April
2004, joining principal co-investors Waypoint Ventures and angel investors.
This exit follows the fall’s high profile exit by HandyLab which was
acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Co. and returned $2 million to the WVF.
The Zell Lurie Institute oversees WVF, which teaches MBA students the
intricacies of the venture capital business by allowing them to make actual
investments in early-stage companies under faculty and advisor supervision.
The Fund has successfully earned venture rates of return. Emerging
high-potential companies, such as HandyLab, receive investment dollars from
the WVF at critical times during their seed and early-stage phases. In
addition, students provide input by developing and revising business plans,
conducting market and product research and writing case studies.
“The Wolverine Venture Fund was created over a decade ago to provide
our students with real-world, hands-on investment experience,” said Thomas
C. Kinnear, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute and Wolverine
Venture Fund Director. “Since its inception, the Fund has become a model
for other student-led venture funds and we continue to innovate. With this
recent acquisition, we celebrate the success of the students involved in
the initial deal and congratulate the management team at Mobius
Microsystems who are now poised to march toward commercialization of its
technology.”
Additional exits include the IPO of IntraLase, an ophthalmic
medical-device company, which became the first firm in the fund’s portfolio
to go public in 2004. The WVF sold its shares in the initial offering,
returning over $1 million in proceeds and effectively expanding the overall
size of the fund to $3.5 million. Prior to that, WVF achieved their first
investment milestone when portfolio company Versity.com was acquired in
1999.
Over its 11-year history, WVF has invested in more than 18 companies
across a wide range of innovative industries, and currently manages an
active portfolio of thirteen companies.
For more information, visit the Institute atZli.Bus.Umich.Edu
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