— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: The Podcast” is with Wendy Baumann, president and chief visionary officer of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation.
WWBIC is a statewide economic development corporation that aims to level the economic playing field in Wisconsin through comprehensive business and financial training, as well as access to capital.
Baumann discusses how WWBIC deviates from a traditional financial institution’s model. She says, “we provide loans really where banks don’t go… we have an expanded box, so we look past, sometimes, colorful credit histories and bankruptcies. We look at, you know, really what the individual is about. What their dream is. What their plan is.”
According to Baumann, Wisconsin offers fertile ground for individuals who are seeking to start or grow their own business. She shares her perspective on what steps the state has already taken and can continue to take to encourage and empower more minorities to pursue entrepreneurship.
She also discusses WWBIC’s goals and aspirations for supporting minority business owners, saying the organization aims to commit itself to “caring about those where there’s an unlevel playing field. Where ‘isms’ still exist. Women, people of color… individuals who are lower wealth, and also veterans and military spouses.”
Listen to the podcast here: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/wisbusiness-the-podcast-with-wendy-baumann-wwbic/
See the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts: https://www.wisbusiness.com/category/podcast/
— In the latest Capitol Chats podcast from WisPolitics, Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson talks about the importance of expanding Medicaid coverage in Wisconsin.
She also said the state’s abortion ban could make Wisconsin less attractive to medical students, arguing the lack of abortion access is a “travesty.”
“It’s part of reproductive health,” she said. “This isn’t a conversation about whether it’s right or not, it’s about women having access to the health care they deserve and need.”
Listen to the show here: https://www.wispolitics.com/2023/dhs-sec-johnson-laments-lack-of-medicaid-expansion-in-budget/
See more episodes of Capitol Chats: https://www.wispolitics.com/category/capitolchats/
<br><b><i>Top headlines from the Health Care Report…</b></i>
— State health officials have announced $12.5 million in Medicaid home and community-based services grants for 90 recipients in Wisconsin.
And Wisconsin women with breast cancer are urging support for a bill to cover additional screenings, saying while it might be too late for them, the change could save others’ lives.
<i>For more of the most relevant news on COVID-19, reports on groundbreaking health research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com.</i>
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— Startups in Wisconsin raised at least $640 million from investors last year, according to the Wisconsin Technology Council’s latest Wisconsin Portfolio report.
While that’s lower than the record-high total of nearly $869 million from 2021, it’s the second-highest total for annual investment dollars ever seen in the state. Last year’s total includes 107 different deals, compared to the 140 deals seen in the prior year.
The Tech Council notes 116 different investment groups or funds participated in the deals tracked for last year, including 76 out-of-state investors.
“Wisconsin continues to attract more angel and venture capital, including a rising share of money from outside the state, but more work must be done to recognize the state’s full potential,” Tech Council President Tom Still said in a statement.
The largest investment deal from last year, raised by Madison-based rewards program startup Fetch, made up a sizable portion of the total with $240 million raised. Other companies with significant deals included: SHINE Medical Technologies, Elephas Biosciences, Moxie Health, Ensodata, Polco, Frontdesk, Synthetaic, Understory and Leo Cancer Care.
The report highlights growth across the spectrum of deal size, as the average round size for 2022 was close to $6 million. Report authors wrote that “signifies Wisconsin startups are growing and not just needing to secure larger rounds of funding, but they are also successful at doing so.”
By comparison, the previous year’s average round size was just over $6.2 million. But in the previous five years, that figure had largely been on the rise, from about $1.7 million in 2015 to $3.8 million in 2019.
Meanwhile, the median deal size for last year was $1 million. As half of all deals were for less than that amount, many early-stage businesses in the state are getting the initial funding needed to launch and continue growing, the report suggests.
But at the same time, the report notes first-time funding has been declining for several years. The Tech Council found 35 percent of companies that landed investments last year began raising funds in 2022.
As with previous years, information technology and health care companies are dominating the investment landscape, making up 54 percent and 40.4 percent of all capital raised in the state last year, respectively.
See the full report: https://wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/WI-Portfolio-2023-FINAL-web1.pdf
— An associate dean at UW-Madison’s College of Engineering says researchers at the university are trying to boost storage capacity and range for batteries used in electric vehicles.
David Noyce, director of the university’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory, spoke yesterday during a Wisconsin Technology Council event in Wauwatosa focused on electric vehicle development.
He and other speakers discussed some of the challenges associated with advancing EVs, including China’s dominance of the global supply chain for these vehicles.
“China has about 60 percent of the EV market in terms of vehicles … about three-fourths of the market of lithium-ion battery production,” he said.
While the recent U.S. national infrastructure bill included about $1.6 billion for new lithium production facilities and technology advancement, Noyce noted, he added “it’s a slow climb” compared to competing nations.
“It takes about a year for an Australian lithium producer to get up and running … Here, it’s eight years,” he said.
Still, Faith Technologies Executive Vice President Wade Leipold noted about 60 battery plants are being built in the United States right now. He said U.S. manufacturers are “taking on the challenge” of competing in this industry at the global level.
Meanwhile, Art Harrington of Milwaukee-area law firm Godfrey & Kahn touched on challenges associated with building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Harrington is a shareholder in the firm’s Environmental and Energy Strategies Practice Groups.
“One of the big challenges as we start ramping up charging at home … is whether the utilities are going to have adequate distribution and transformers to deal with more home charging,” he said.
See more on the work being done at the TOPS Lab in Madison: https://topslab.wisc.edu/
— June home sales in the greater Milwaukee area fell 22 percent over the year, according to a recent industry report.
The Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors reports 1,740 homes were sold across Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties last month. In June 2022, that number was 2,230.
Meanwhile, a similar trend was seen in the region for the second quarter of this year. A total of 7,502 sales were tracked for the quarter, compared to 10,058 in the second quarter of 2022, for a decline of 25.4 percent.
GMAR says home listings are now “dangerously low” due to a lack of new development. June was the 16th month in a row that listings declined, the report shows. While new construction has typically added between 3,000 and 4,000 new homes to the market per year, that figure has been 50 percent lower than that for several years.
This change has contributed to rising prices, with sale prices between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year rising 4.4 percent from the second quarter of last year. While the average sale prices in Q2 2022 was $392,545, that number climbed to $409,885 this year.
“There is a significant, long-term danger if we do not create additional supply in the form of single-family and condominium units,” report authors wrote.
See the full report here: https://www.gmar.com/resources/research-statistics/2023-housing-statistics
#TOP STORIES#
# Leinenkugel’s Brewery workers strike in Chippewa Falls
# Groups argue Wisconsin regulators can’t make factory farms obtain preemptive pollution permits
# ‘No choice’: Madison council flips to yes on ‘luxury’ student housing
#TOPICS#
# AGRIBUSINESS
– Grain stocks in Wisconsin reach record high
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=677&yr=2023
– Wisconsin DNR scales back expansion for Door County factory farm
# CONSTRUCTION
– Harley-Davidson’s Milwaukee park begins construction this summer
# ECONOMY
– Infant care can be especially difficult to find in Wisconsin. Here’s why
# EDUCATION
– Wisconsin building trades exams now offered in Spanish
– Even with increase in state budget, school districts still foot millions in special education expenses
# ENVIRONMENT
– Summer nights are getting warmer in Wisconsin. Here’s why that’s a problem.
– Smoky air from Canadian Fires is heading towards Wisconsin again; here’s what to know
# HEALTH CARE
– Insurance companies would cover supplemental breast cancer screenings under proposal
– Outreach Community Health Centers names new president and CEO
# LEGAL
– Grand Chute official charged with felony after his business received a public contract
# MANUFACTURING
– Enerpac sells Cortland Industrial business to Toronto company
– Milwaukee manufacturer Xymox Technologies acquired by German company
# MEDIA
– Ann Rosenquist lasted 19 days on ‘Alone.’ The Bayfield area organic farmer says it was a ‘sacred’ experience
# REAL ESTATE
– Midloch Investment with stake in The Avenue readies $75 million real estate fund
# PRESS RELEASES
<i>See these and other press releases:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/press-releases/ </i>
Brown County Deputy Executive: Highlights benefits of tissue, eye donation
Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce: Nutritional healing named PULSE Champion of Young Professionals
