Raymond Vennare understands the challenges of raising money for startup ventures better than the average businessman. Vennare himself has been involved in five Pittsburgh-based startup technology companies over the past 20 years, and the experience has given him a unique perspective on the subject of capital.

Raymond Vennare, a successful serial entrepreneur, has launched five businesses in the Pittsburgh area and has been associated with Ben Franklin Technology Partners for 20 years.

Vennare's strategy has involved the Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP) and its Pittsburgh office, Innovation Works (IW). In fact, four of the five companies in which he has been involved have received funding from BFTP.

"Companies, industries and markets all have inherent life cycles and windows of opportunity," Vennare says. "It's an evolutionary continuum of growth. Experience tells me that BFTP is a critical component in capital formation and a strategic partner along that continuum." But Vennare credits BFTP with being "more than a source of capital. It's a critical resource for organizational support and business development as well."

Applying Technology from the
Arts to the Human Body
Vennare's first BFTP-funded company was the Fine Art Inventory Network, a private business-to-business electronic trading network. The company managed proprietary and sensitive documentation for the international fine art market through the use of image-oriented, database-driven information technologies.

A few years later, Vennare acquired a second company, VS/interactive, which had already received funding from BFTP. This developed into a successful multimedia software development company with core competencies in the design of information system networks and database-driven web applications, the development of nationwide computer-based training modules and the implementation of knowledge-based certification networks.

For many, launching two successful businesses would be enough, but when VS/interactive was acquired by TissueInformatics, Vennare moved into the medical technology field developing a proprietary software platform for the automated analysis of human plant, animal and engineered tissues—again with the help of Ben Franklin.

An Ongoing Evolution
His latest BFTP-funded company, ThermalTherapeutic Systems, is developing a portable next-generation perfusion device designed to substantially improve the physician's or medical technician's use and control of hyperthermic perfusion.

"Research has shown that certain chemotherapeutic drugs, when heated, are very effective at killing cancer cells. This is known as hyperthermic chemotherapy," Vennare says. "Our device targets various forms of cancer that have metastasized into the abdominal cavity, primarily colon and ovarian cancer. This localized treatment is called Interperitoneal Hyperthermic Chemotherapy, and our device is a tool designed to help surgical oncologists provide this treatment to patients."

Vennare adds that interperitoneal chemotherapy is also effective when the chemotherapeutic solution is unheated (called IPC). "Trials on IPC show a dramatic increase in survival rates as well as quality of life," he says. "The benefit is so clear, in fact, that the National Cancer Institute issued a statement suggesting that this treatment should be a standard of care for women suffering from ovarian cancer."

Pursuing a Proven Path to Success
Vennare's strategy from the start of ThermalTherapeutics followed his previous paths—to pursue debt financing. "With that in mind, we approached both the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and Ben Franklin Technology Partners for seed investments," he says.

Vennare went through the same process as any other company the fourth time around to get the $200,000 investment from BFTP. "We applied for the money, presented to the investment committee, established milestones and were awarded the funds," he says.

Working with Ben Franklin, Vennare has found, can be something of a seal of approval for outside investors. "The credibility and cache of being a BFTP portfolio company can make the difference between securing private, angel, and/or institutional investments—or not," Vennare says. He adds that this is especially important these days when institutional and professional investors seem to be less willing to fund early-stage ventures.

Overall, Vennare says that BFTP exists to assist, enable and support early-stage companies, investors and entrepreneurs like himself to succeed, which in turn helps fuel local Pennsylvania economies. "Ben Franklin encourages serial entrepreneurs like me to repeatedly take the informed risks necessary to innovate locally rather than relocate nationally and build the foundation for the next generation of entrepreneurs."