Dominican's Venture Greenhouse hosting `Marinnovation'

The event, free and open to anyone who registers at marinnovation.org, will feature as many as 40 start-up companies, five speakers, and networking opportunities for investors, entrepreneurs, business professionals and others interested in innovation and entrepreneurship in Marin. It is being held on Thursday, May 17, from 4-7 p.m. at the Venture Greenhouse facility at 30 Castro Avenue in San Rafael.

“We are bringing together our vast resources in the area to help grow companies, scalable ventures with strong value propositions,” said John Stayton, Co-Founder and Director of Venture Greenhouse. “Marin County has all the pieces to have a vibrant entrepreneurial community.”

The Venture Greenhouse is a pioneering, early-stage business incubator providing an intensive acceleration process for growing companies that have the potential for significant environmental and social benefits.  VG’s 5,000 square foot  “innovation engine” houses up to 12 companies at a time, with the goal of graduating companies within one year. VG is currently accepting applications for their next intake of client companies.

Inspired by Dominican’ s groundbreaking Green MBA program, the Venture Greenhouse is a growth accelerator for budding social and environmental entrepreneurs, a learning laboratory for the University’s business students, and a community resource for innovators, investors, sustainability advocates and new ventures.

Among the core clients who will be participating in “Marinnovation” on May 17 are Urban Algae, Skip to Renew, CadTrak, Clearly Next, Trimtab Media, Pulpwork, ECOlunchbox and Neozyte.

To RSVP or for more information, visit www.marinnovation.org.

The Venture Greenhouse opened in February of 2011. In its first year, VG worked with eight client companies. Since then, two client companies have graduated (Illumalighting/Evolvelectric and Next Phase Solar) and two new clients have joined VG (Urban Algae and Cadtrak Engineering).

An accelerator is a form of business incubator with an intensive business development process that helps new ventures to achieve rapid growth and greater success in the marketplace.

Companies currently involved with the Venture Greenhouse focus on a wide variety of sustainable issues, including, biofuel production, bio-based chain lubricants, water filtration, recycled-content packaging, employment coaching, and non-toxic lunchware.

Client companies pay a nominal monthly fee of $100 per person to help pay for utilities. Client companies can have a maximum of three people with offices in the facility. The Venture Greenhouse also may take equity stakes in client ventures. While some clients may continue to hold other jobs, their priority should be the creation of new employment for themselves and others with the launch of their enterprises. Selection criteria include companies focused on environmental and social impact and financial viability.

Venture Greenhouse was founded by Dominican faculty members John Stayton and Paul Bozzo, and Stuart Corvin, a local businessman who was formerly the owner of Cal Steam Supply.

In addition to being a year-long accelerator program, Venture Greenhouse’s mission is to help generate jobs for Marin County, provide a learning laboratory for the university’s business students, and serve as community resource for innovators and new ventures.

Venture Greenhouse has established working relationships with Keiretsu Forum, North Bay Angels, Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, SBDC, Marin Economic Forum and regional economic development offices.

Media Contact: Sarah Gardner, Director, Communications & Research, sarah.gardner@dominican.edu, 415-485-3239.