The state-backed Slater Technology Fund is “optimistic” about fiscal 2008, “after significant success in the fiscal year ending June 30,” the state-backed venture capital fund said today. Highlights of the annual report included the fund’s highest-ever level of capital recovery and a near-record level of funding commitments...

...The fund noted that its investments in the past year included several commitments of $250,000 to $500,000, “notably larger … than in previous years.” Slater described the change as part of a new strategy of devoting larger commitments to “a more limited number of investee companies with a view toward increasing the probabilities of success in attracting significant follow-on funding over the near-term and generating more significant numbers of high-value, high-wage jobs over the intermediate to longer-term.”...

...Meanwhile, Slater’s return on previous investments in fiscal 2007 came to $930,000, a new record and more than twice the previous year’s total of $420,448.

Tech companies that have received financial support from Slater in the last fiscal year:

• Andera Software - $150,000 - Providence-based and founded by a Brown graduate, developer of online account opening software.
• Bionica Corp. - $500,000 - Developing a new hearing aid, a spinoff of Design Lab; both are located in Providence.
• Creative Circle Advertising Solutions - $200,000 - Providence-based online ad software for news publications. Founded by the presidents of Creative Circle Media Consulting and Sprintout at the Center for Design & Business incubator.
• Innovention Technologies - $500,000 - Now based in Middletown, founded by Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh researchers.
• Location Inc. - $250,000 - Based in Woonsocket, a spinoff of local university research
• Public Display - $150,000 - Providence-based developer of "groupware", founded by local serial entrepreneur
• Storage Venture - $250,000 - URI spinoff focused on data-protection
• Tizra Inc. - $500,000 - Providence-based developer of PDF publishing system