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V O L . X X I I I N O. I V F E B R UA R Y 2 0 , 2 0 1 7 22 T E C H N O L O G Y F O C U S raised capital of $350,000 from angel investors in Maine and one in Boston. Katon declined to reveal who they are but listed in various U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fi lings are Peter Klein, former CEO of Auburn manufacturer KICTeam & Enefco International who is Cobbler's chair- man of the board, and omas Marlow, an intellectual property specialist who is also a Cobbler board member. In its recent SEC amended fi ling, Cobbler sold $150,000 of a $250,000 equity raise coupled with Series AA preferred stock. It also has a $65,000 loan from CEI that is backed by FAME. "We've sold about 20% of the company in equity to angel investors," Katon says. Additional help came from French company Dassault Systèmes, which gave Cobbler the equivalent of $50,000 in manufacturing software. Katon says Cobbler is get- ting notice outside Maine, having been invited to pitch at the Venture Summit West from Feb. 28-March 1 in Mountain View, Calif. Accelerated help Fortunately for Katon, his location near Orono provided ready access to two of the state's key innovation accelerator programs. Katon and Lewis were among the companies in the Maine Center for Entrepreneur- ial Development's 2015 Top Gun class as well as the Scratchpad Accelerator, a UMaine initiative in collaboration with the Maine Technology Institute. Top Gun Prep and Top Gun helped the duo learn how to start a business and learn the intricacies of business, while the Scratchpad Accelerator taught them how to plan for scale, get funding and take the company to a commercial scale. Scratchpad also gave them $25,000. " e [Scratchpad] program guides entrepreneurs through the early stages of business development to help them improve their chances of success," Katon says. "Our initial focus is the sole and over time possibly progress to do a full shoe like a Croc." e company hopes to have 12 to 14 patents fi led or granted in the next fi ve years. "Our focus now is to fi nd a launch partner to beta test the product," Katon adds. "We are in fi nal discus- sions with a partner [that we expect to fi nalize] in the next few months." Lori Valigra, Mainebiz senior writer / c o n t e n t s p e c i a l i s t , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t lvaligra @ mainebiz.biz and @LValigra » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E "The funding we received with FAME's help allowed us to complete our commercial kitchen and purchase much needed equipment. With the new facility we had our biggest sales year yet, opened a new storefront and increased the number of employees." Steve Shaffer Co-Owner Black Dinah Chocolatiers Helping Maine Businesses Succeed since 1983 Best Places to Work in Maine 2015, 2016 1-800-228-3734 • FAMEmaine.com SP ONSORED BY Family Wealth Management Partners UBS Financial Services Inc. USM Abromson Center, 88 Bedford Street, Portland April 6 | 7:30–10:30am PA N E L I S T S Dawn Harmon Director and Shareholder at Perkins Thompson Anne-Marie L. Storey Partner at Rudman Winchell Barbara Babkirk Master Career Counselor and principal at Heart At Work Associates Joan M. Fortin Shareholder & Director of Attorney Recruiting at Bernstein Shur Join us on April 6 as we take on the important topic of: The gender wage gap — why is this still a thing? Mainebiz has invited several professionals from the legal and HR sector to discuss the reality of the gender wage gap here in Maine. Joining them will be executives who will tell their personal stories on negotiating compensation plans. The goal of this forum is to share ideas for solutions and ways we can bridge the gap today. F R E E P A R K I N G S AV E T H E DAT E This is a regularly sold out event, register for your early bird ticket today: www.mainebiz.biz/WLF FOLLOW US @MBEVENTS #WLF17

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