Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 7, 2023 19 provost for entrepreneurship and innovation at Yale, sees the same trend. Geballe's job is to help launch new startups from Yale research. "We did have a run of five years in a row where one of our spinout companies did IPO. And that ended last year," he said. "So, I think generally speaking, the sense is that the IPO window has been relatively closed." The venture capital market is similarly cautious. Geballe said it's not that the money isn't out there, but a lot of it is essentially sitting on the sidelines. "It's certainly more challenging for entrepreneurs to raise venture capital today than it was two years ago," he said. "Although it's taking longer and it is more challenging, good compa- nies are still getting funded." In fact, Geballe said Yale saw a slight bump in the number of spinout companies that received VC funding in the fiscal year that just closed. But he said it's more important than ever for a company's fundamentals and executive team to be strong. Prime the pump Geballe, a former tech executive and chief operating officer in Gov. Ned Lamont's first administration, said Connecticut has actually weathered this market downturn relatively well, compared to the rest of the country. Milone agrees, adding the state is still well positioned in terms of innova- tion and early-stage activity to jump back into any market rebound. And there are signs of hope. Renaissance Capital in July said "the backlog appears brimming with solid IPO candidates," and it expects a steady rise in listings in the second half of this year. "These are normal ebbs and flows of the market," Milone said. "And I think Connecticut is continuously developing itself to support these companies. So, the overall invest- ment is going to make our companies able to recover probably quicker." It can take months to properly prep for an IPO, and Arvinas' Cassidy — who's predicting at least a smoothing out of the recent volatility in the near term — said companies that have held off on a public offering waiting for better conditions, should do the necessary groundwork to take advan- tage of any upswing. "You always need to be in a state of readiness to some extent," Cassidy said. "... Always be ready to poten- tially pull the trigger." He'd like to see the state of Connecticut prime the pump through tax credits, leveling the playing field with neighboring Massachusetts and New York, which have more generous programs. A proposed expansion of the research and development tax credit program to smaller pass-through enti- ties was an idea that failed to pass during the recent legislative session. McCooe counsels patience with the markets, saying, particularly in biotech, returns often have to be measured in decades, so a few months of poor conditions shouldn't spook those who are in it for the long haul. He also sees hope in the amount of public cash that's still supporting innovation around the country, and in Connecticut. "The federal government is still pumping massive amounts of money into the universities and the National Institutes of Health and Mental Health," he said. "And so, the biggest funder of innovation in America is the federal government." THE BUSINESS OF CANNABIS C O N N E C T I C U T C O N F E R E N C E CONFERENCE AGENDA CONTINUED 12:00 — 12:45 PM WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Topics • Staffing • Recruiting & Training • On-Boarding 12:45— 1:30 PM LUNCH + FIRESIDE CHAT: SETTING UP YOUR CANNABIS BUSINESS Sponsored By: Shipman & Goodwin Speaker KELLI-MARIE VALLIERES Chief Workforce Officer CT Office of Workforce Strategy, State of Connecticut Speaker SARAH BODLEY reSet Speaker TIANA VICTORIA HERCULES Founder & CEO Lady Jane LLC Moderator THOMAS CURTIN Publisher Hartford Business Journal Speaker ROBERT LICKWAR Tax Managing Director UHY Advisors Topics • Understanding IRS Rule 280E • C-Corp or LLC? No. of IPOs Source: Crunchbase IPO ACTIVITY IN CONNECTICUT 10 8 6 4 2 0 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 AGENDA CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE SPREAD EXHIBITOR OPPORTUNITY | $500 • 8X8 BOOTH • COMPANY SIGN • TWO CHAIRS • LISTING IN SHOW GUIDE DISTRIBUTED TO ALL ATTENDEES • TWO TICKETS TO THE EVENT

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