Bright Ideas. Bright Future.

Bright aims to perpetuate this growth by serving as a resource to promote early-stage investments, quality deal flow, business partnering, and related entrepreneurial activities across the life sciences, energy, IT, and advanced manufacturing high-tech sectors. Since its inception just three years ago, the Bright Forum has featured nearly 100 high-tech companies.

According to a recent Kauffman Foundation study when it comes to creating jobs, “Startup companies aren’t everything. They’re the only thing.”

Statistics from the Kauffman study show that all new net job growth in the US in recent decades comes from companies five years old or younger. Identifying and fostering initiatives to promote job growth through startup activities within our region continues to be a core mission of Bright Buffalo Niagara and we hope you will join us in furthering these efforts.

The Bright Forum, which has traditionally focused on angel investment, has had significant success in this area: As a result of momentum created by the event, the Western New York angel investor network has doubled in size since 2009 and formalized association nationally through membership in the Angel Capital Association (Catherine Mott, Chair of the Board, Angel Capital Association of the US was Bright's keynote speaker in 2010).

The 2009 luncheon keynote presenter, JumpStart Inc., partnered with economic development leaders in Western and Central New York in 2010 to secure $445,000 in federal funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to transform entrepreneurship in Upstate New York into a significant engine for regional economic growth.

In 2012, Bright and SmartStart/UNYTECH, a popular venture forum run by the Albany-based Center for Economic Growth, partnered to host a single event. SmartStart/UNYTECH, now in its 12th year, has highlighted 255 high-quality companies that have raised over $500 million in equity financing, including over $72 million directly attributable to their participation in the forum. This partnership enabled the two events to merge their audiences, reaching both the venture capitalists that SmartStart/UNYTECH typically attracts and the angel investors that have been the focus of Bright in past years.

Read Testimonials from Forum participants.
2012 Venture Forum Program
2012 Venture Forum Highlights
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