Ezone outpaces Ky. average for return on investment

Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Lucy May Senior Staff Reporter

November 13, 2009 (Covington, KY) - Northern Kentucky might not have a research university, but that hasn’t stopped its Ezone Innovation and Commercialization Center from outperforming other ICCs across the state on key measures.

For its 2009 fiscal year, the Ezone helped create 189 jobs, surpassing the state average of 110. And its 81 client companies produced total annualized revenue of $144 million, far outpacing the state average of $84 million, according to its 2009 annual report.

“For us to have the best return on investment of all the ICCs across the state is good to see,” said Dan Tobergte, president of Northern Kentucky Tri-ED. The Ezone became a division of Tri-ED in 2007.

Casey Barach, the vice president for entrepreneurship who runs the Ezone, also keeps close tabs on the amount of investment that Ezone portfolio companies are able to attract. For the 2009 fiscal year ended June 30, client companies got more than $14 million in private investment such as venture capital and angel funds. That compares to the state average of about $8.2 million.

Barach said he thinks part of Covington-based Ezone’s success comes from having a “true, strong competitor just across the river” in Cincinnati. The region’s technology initiatives work together to make each stronger, he said, but they also compete.

Over the past couple of years, the Ezone has become more of a virtual incubator than a traditional one that rents space to startup firms, he said. The organization still maintains its fourth-floor offices on Madison Avenue, with conference space and meeting rooms client companies can use. But it no longer rents space directly to firms on other floors of the building where it’s housed.

That has worked well for companies, especially since home Internet connections have become so much faster than they were when the Ezone launched in 2001, Barach said.

“We’ve always looked at the Ezone as more than a building, a center or a program. It’s really about building and helping to sustain and foster a culture of entrepreneurship,” said Tom Prewitt, a partner at Graydon Head who was an Ezone founder and remains a board member. “I like to think that’s what helps lead to the kind of successes we’re seeing in the numbers.”

Now Barach is pushing for the creation of a Northern Kentucky Angel Investor Network, or NKAIN, to help fund startups. The group has been meeting monthly but hasn’t yet made any investments, he said.

lmay@bizjournals.com | (513) 337-9437