Woman leads Emergent Growth Fund's investment in business
BYLINE: By MARINA BLOMBERG, The Gainesville Sun
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE Fla.
There are angels among us, and Lee May is at the head of some of them.
As chairman of Emergent Growth Fund LLC, May said she plays "the mother" when members meet every week to go over requests for a share of the member-managed "angel" fund.
Angel investors put up funds that fill the gap between money provided from entrepreneurs' personal resources, friends, family and development organizations and that provided by venture capitalists, who usually don't give money until emerging companies are settled in and moving along.
Emergent was launched about two years ago after the University of Florida's Office of Technology Licensing noted the sheer number of new companies being spun off. Director David Day, Assistant Director Jane Muir, Chamber of Commerce President Brent Christensen and Chris Needles, assistant vice president for development at UF among others approached successful business people in the Gainesville area, asking if they'd be interested in forming an angel group.
"A number of us did we saw there was a place for it," May said. "We took the ball and ran with it, and in less than six months, 50 members established a $1.5 million fund. There are 63 members how, and we are at $3 million."
Emergent has nine portfolio companies, six of which spun out of UF research and development and most of which are still in this area. May said the impact on the economy has been $11 million so far.
As the sun begins to set on Emergent Growth Fund LLC, which was designed to last only about three years, a new fund, Emergent II, is rising and will be in place in a couple of weeks. "This will be bigger and better. We've learned a lot along the way," May said.
Emergent makes two to four investments a year, but hundreds of requests come in. "On any given day, we will be looking at six to 10 companies," May said. "We do a lot of reading."
While most of the portfolio companies seem to deal with medical and biotechnology, Emergent will consider any venture that has the potential for rapid growth in significant markets. "It's not all tech. My personal favorite (request) was for an all-woman's shooting range. To the other extreme, there was a company with a 'disruptive chip' that was (projected to earn) $450 billion a year."
A screening committee meets once a week to review requests and provide personal input. "The expertise and brilliance of our members, it's fantastic. We have world-renowned scientists, successful business people, doctors, builders. On only one occasion have we encountered an application that we didn't have a member skilled in the subject. It was a textile company," May said.
May, who was involved in real estate development, became vice chairman of Emergent under founding chairman Richard Allen. As the current chairman "it is part of my job to get out there, seeing what is available to fund, bringing in the good deals. I am the face and the voice of Emergent, not just in Gainesville, but all over the state and Southeast." She is vice-chairman of Angel Capital Association, a network of funding groups which pass suitable ventures around.
May said Emergent is one of the premier angel funds in the Southeast. "We have such a good reputation that in the June issue of Fortune magazine, Emergent was one of three to be quoted in the small business section. We are out there."
The amount of funding has ranged from $100,000 to $1 million. In addition, members may invest individually, upping that amount.
Portfolio companies are: AerovectRx Corporation, which facilitates drug delivery via inhalation; Anti-Fouling Technologies Inc., which created an alternative method to cleaning marine growth from hulls of boats; Axogen Inc., whose products allow surgeons to repair and regenerate peripheral nerves more successfully; and others.
May's venture into chairing an angel fund pales to her adventures earlier in life. She moved to Gainesville from Dallas in 1975 when her sister was running for Alachua County Commission. She attended UF but dropped out when she got married to her husband, Jack, and entered the real estate business.
"I did my retirement early in my life," she said. She is now 48.
The couple were members in The Explorers Club, an international society, and traveled all over the world climbing mountains and racing cars. During one adventure seeking lost gold in Ecuador, May said she found herself being held hostage by Ecuadorean gunmen, who threatened to kill her native mountaineering friends unless she wrote a "substantial" check made out from a bank in Miami. She drove 9,000 miles over 27 days in a Honda on the Transamazon Highway and lived for 10 years in Italy.
In the meantime, she had three children: Emily, 10; Winston, 14; and Justin, 27.
While she did not graduate from UF, she has taken several biology courses at Santa Fe Community College to learn more about the subject. "I work with all these scientists. I have to communicate it to the other members in layman's terms."
She is not intimidated by being the minority. "The position I am in is very unique. The space of venture capital is dominated by men, but they treat me like one of the guys, in a good sense. They see my work ethic, and the time and effort and passion for what I do. It is a blast doing what I do on a daily basis.
"This is a whole new challenge. I feel as though I am contributing to the community, not just in Gainesville but in our state, helping enforce what Gov. Jeb Bush is saying, that this is a biotech state.
"I'm very involved in the angel and venture world. It's really rewarding."