Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, Cox Newspapers, Business 2.0 and other magazines have recognized several of NCIC's portfolio companies as possessing world-class technologies. These technologies cover carbon nanofiber production, waveform analysis for corrosion protection systems, dynamic banding gas chromatography, rapid digital text abstracting, speech recognition, automated pressure-sealed paper handling, and engineering standards management. Several companies have also received the Ohio Thomas Edison Emerging Technology Awards. Getting those technologies into the market place requires creative approaches. NCIC CapitalFund has worked with its portfolio companies to help them establish strategic partnerships with US Fortune 100 companies such as General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, Agilent Technologies, IBM, and General Electric. We have also helped portfolio companies form relationships with international conglomerates such as Philips Electronics, Gunze-Sangyo and Europipe, driving their technologies into key, worldwide markets. NCIC CapitalFund continues to find effective channels for its technology-based businesses.

NCIC Investments by Industry

PORTFOLIO UPDATE

NCIC Invests in Clickguide – NCIC CapitalFund recently closed on a $200,000 equity investment in Clickguide, Inc., an Ann Arbor, Michigan company, with sales and marketing offices in Dayton. Clickguide has developed the next generation “Direct-to-Content” navigational tool that solves both the massive Web navigation problem and the growing difficulty Web sites face in trying to attract and retain qualified customers. According to Mike Bannen, CEO, Clickguide fundamentally changes the way people interact with the Web by lifting navigation off the page and embedding it into the browser. The menu’s hierarchical structure provides a context rich view of the web, and provides users one click access to the content they want. In addition, Clickguide provides powerful search functionality called ClickSearch.

Clickguide's content network component is comprised of content providers whose sites are mapped by the Clickguide search engine. Almost any content provider can make their Web site accessible through the Clickguide interface by joining the network, with no up-front costs. Content providers only pay Clickguide a small fee when users actually visit their sites. This performance-based pricing model offers content providers a compelling and cost-effective opportunity to attract and retain loyal customers.

NCIC OUT IN THE COMMUNITY

NCIC CapitalFund Sponsors Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce's CEO Development Initiative for Sixth Year – On August 2, 2001, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce (DACC) held its kick-off meeting for the 2001-2002 CEO Development Initiative. This year the program will include three components. The CEO Leadership Course began on September 6, a half-day course entitled "Accounting Tools for Executives" will be held on October 10, and the CEO Strategic Planning Course will start in January 2002. These courses provide value-added resources to Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce members. Over 300 executives have taken advantage of these courses in the past. A number of these graduates have been recognized for their achievements and leadership, including being named the Regional Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young.

Winslow Participates in Panel Discussion - Frank Winslow, President of NCIC CapitalFund participated in a half-day seminar for Leadership Miami Valley focusing on Transportation and Technology. Frank, along with three other panelists, discussed “Technology in the Miami Valley: A Look at the Present and Future.” Leadership Miami Valley is a program that offers a regional perspective of the multi-county Dayton area concerning economic development and quality of life issues.

NCIC SUPPORTS ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES

NCIC Supports The Great Midwest Venture Capital Conference – NCIC CapitalFund is proud to once again be a sponsor of the Great Midwest Venture Capital Conference. This year’s event will be November 28 and 29 in Indianapolis. NCIC has long supported the conference and helped host it when it was held in Dayton in 1998. A number of NCIC portfolio companies have presented at the conference over the years including Privatizer Systems, Color Savvy, and Intelligent Algorithms. Anyone interested in this year's conference, please feel free to contact the NCIC CapitalFund office.

Congratulations to the I-Zone – NCIC congratulates the I-Zone on the celebration of its first year anniversary. Launched in June, 2000, the I-Zone was organized to promote and accelerate a positive climate for entrepreneurship in the Dayton Region. Its focus is to promote the formation and growth of IT companies and internet enabled businesses. NCIC is pleased to participate in the efforts of the I-Zone, and congratulates all the members of the I-Zone on an outstanding first year of service to local entrepreneurs.

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