2024 Dealmakers of the Year Honorees

Presented By: PNC Bank

 

Social Impact

Elyse Blazevich          
President & CEO/President              
Colorado BioScience Association/Colorado BioScience Institute

CBSA leads policy efforts on behalf of the life sciences ecosystem and our members, who dedicate their careers to changing and saving lives with health innovations, products, and services.

Elyse Blazevich leads CBSA’s work to create co-opportunity for Colorado’s life sciences community. With the CBSA Board of Directors, team, partners, sponsors, and members, she strategically advances CBSA’s efforts to build a collaborative environment for health innovation.

Elyse brings deep knowledge of life sciences company needs, CBSA as an organization, and Colorado’s business community to offer continuity, connections, and a clear vision for the future of CBSA and the ecosystem it represents. Before joining CBSA, she co-founded Securisyn Medical and led the organization as COO and CFO, transitioning the company from a founder-led startup to a professionally led, commercial-stage medical device company. She remains a member of the Securisyn Medical Board of Directors. Born and raised in Colorado, Elyse holds a B.A. in biology from Colorado College and earned her M.S. in organizational leadership from CSU Global. She is also a graduate of the Colorado BioScience Institute’s Executive Leadership program.

Elyse understands what it takes to lead a Colorado life sciences company from concept to commercialization. Together with the team at Securisyn Medical, she:

• Secured $15 million in capital, including $4 million in non-dilutive government funding.
• Developed and expanded a product pipeline from one to five devices.
• Built an intellectual property portfolio with 12 patents.
• Completed two Phase I and subsequent Phase II SBIR contracts.
• Achieved 510(k) market clearance for a Class II medical device.
• Championed state programs run by the Office of Economic Development and International Trade to support Colorado’s advanced industries. She advocated for Colorado’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant Program after receiving a $250,000 Early-Stage Capital & Retention Grant and the Advanced Industries Investment Tax Credit, which she used to raise follow-on capital for Securisyn Medical.
• Previously, Elyse led investor relations for the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. She has also served as a board member and leader for Project C.U.R.E. and the Blue Bench in addition to her board leadership role with CBSA.

 

 

 

Raj Dani           
CFO     
Ping Identity   

Developer of identity and access management software intended for financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and other industries.

• Company was taken private and acquired ForgeRock solidifying Top3 positioning in Identity Access
• Acquisition of ForgeRock was a $5.4B total deal value –
• This solidified the new company to top 3 contender in identity access field.
• DOJ review took 10 months to clear anti-trust; execs and sponsor needed to testify in front of DOJ.

 

 

Mowa Haile  
Founder & CEO            
Sky Blue Builders

Operator of a construction company that focuses on building and infrastructure projects for private and public sectors.

• Acquired by its management for an undisclosed amount on April 4, 2024.
• In support of this transaction, Apis & Heritage provided debt financing in the form of a loan to the company.

 

 

Scott Hutton
CEO    
Biodesix

A diagnostic solutions company with a focus in lung disease.

• Recently announced a $55M fundraising round from an underwritten offering and concurrent private placement. The offering consisted of common shares and preferred shares that converted into common, at a price of $1.15 per common share.
• The gross proceeds to Biodesix from the underwritten offering and concurrent private placement, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, placement agent fees and other offering expenses payable by Biodesix, and following the receipt of stockholder approval, are expected to be $55.0 million.

 

 

Mark Lupa         
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Sally Hatcher 
Co-Founder & Managing Partner             
Buff Gold Ventures      

A venture capital firm that invests in Deep Tech companies that come out of the University of Colorado pipeline, including biotech, climate tech, quantum science, and other advanced technologies.

Has had numerous investments over the last three years including: 

• SinusLogic—Aug.-2023, Seed Stage, Surgical Devices
• Vitro3D—May-2022, Seed Round, $3.85M, Additive Manufacturing
• Polaris Electro-Optics—Sept.-2023, Seed Round, $3.00M, Semiconductors
• Tynt—Apr-2022, Seed Round, $7.07M, Smart Window Tech        
• Vitrivax—April-2023, Later Stage VC, (Series A), $1.30ME, Vaccine Delivery 
• LongPath Technologies—Feb.-2023, Later Stage VC, $34.95M, Methane Emission Measurement
• Vycarb—Apr-2024, Seed Round, $1.30M, Carbon Capture
• Mana Batteries – Jun-2024, Seed Round $800K, Sodium Battery Tech
• Think Bioscience—Aug.-2022, Seed Round, $17.00M, Drug Discovery

 

 

Social Impact

Kimberly Muller, Esq.        
Executive Director, CU Innovations
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus      

CU Innovations serves as a dynamic innovation hub, uniting campus researchers, big data, clinical care, venture capital, and healthcare industry partners to create the next generation of healthcare technologies. Their mission? To accelerate life-changing discoveries, empower faculty innovation, and amplify patient impact worldwide.

In 2023 remarkable milestones were achieved including: 145 invention disclosures, 1500 patents pending worldwide, 41 licensing deals, and CU-affiliated startups raised $437M. These efforts reverberated globally, with commercial relationships spanning 86 organizations.

- Notably, CU Innovation's economic impact was substantial, both in Colorado and across the U.S. Beyond borders, CU Innovation's influence extended to Canada, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia. On a national scale, CU Innovation's commercialization activities in 2023 generated an estimated‚ÄØ$3.73 billion‚ÄØof economic activity in the U.S.

                                                                              

 

Charles Scripps             
Managing Partner         
Black Lake Capital    

A private equity firm based in Evergreen, Colorado, that invests in buyouts, management buyouts, recapitalization, add-ons, and growth capital in technology-enabled businesses in the United States and Canada. Black Lake has completed 15 transactions in its 11-year history.

• In March of 2021 Black Lake Capital, along with its lender and equity coinvestor Source Capital, consummated the combination of SCApath & Spinnaker Supply Chain Services. The combination created a leading supply chain services firm that provides end-to-end supply chain strategy, planning and execution consulting services. 

• During its investment period, Black Lake completed a third acquisition, Accelogix; hired a CFO, COO, and CRO; and implemented new accounting, CRM, and untilization software. 

• In March 2024, after roughly doubling EBITDA, SpinnakerSCA was sold to the Publicis Group, a 4B EUR French public company.

 

 

Mary Szela     
President & CEO         
TriSalus Life Sciences, Inc.

An oncology company integrating novel delivery technology with immunotherapy to transform treatment for patients with liver and pancreatic tumors.

• Went public via a merger in 2023 and raised $50M of post-IPO equity in 2024
• Previously, the company raised $120.21 million of venture funding from undisclosed investors on November 9, 2022.
• Previously, the company raised $40 million through a combination of Series B2 and Series B3 venture funding from undisclosed investors on June 30, 2022, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $350 million.