Month: October 2023

After a record-breaking year for startup investment in 2021, Wisconsin has struggled to keep that momentum going in 2022 and 2023.

Investment in early-stage companies was down last year, but still higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to an annual report from the Wisconsin Tech Council. However, such investments so far this year have come in much lower.

This year, roughly $191 million in investment deals have been tracked so far, less than the $209 million tracked in all of 2015, according to Joe Kremer, director of the Wisconsin Tech Council Investor Networks program.

He said it’s unlikely the state will match the record-breaking $868 million raised in 2021 and the strong $640 million raised last year, but he’s still optimistic that investment could see an uptick before the end of 2023.

“A lot of deals happen in the fourth quarter,” Kremer said. “I saw this last year as well, where we were worried about the numbers, and it really picked up in October through November and December. So we’re anticipating that could happen.”

He also said “large deals” really drive the state’s total investments, pointing to Madison-based Fetch Rewards securing $240 million last year. That accounted for one-third of all investment capital raised in 2022.

“We haven’t had any of those significant deals yet, but I do see some brightness on the horizon here,” Kremer said. “We have had a number of deals that have raised $10 to $20, almost $30 million that are starting to grow to that point that hopefully they will start attracting larger rounds in future years.”

Additionally, 2021 may have been a bit of an outlier for the state, as much of the investment may have been driven by the economy coming back to life as the pandemic eased, Kremer said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission are planning to test both the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Wednesday, October 4, at 2:20 p.m. Eastern. The test will be conducted in two parts, with one set to go to cell phones and the other to radio and TV stations.

FEMA says the alert will have a unique tone and vibration to make the alert accessible to all recipients. Phones should receive the message only one time in the 30 minutes after the test begins on Wednesday.

“The purpose of the October 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” FEMA and the FCC explained in a statement.

The WEA test will go to Americans’ cell phones and will include one text message that will read, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

The agency noted this will be the third nationwide test of the system, although it will be just the second test that has gone to all cell phones since the system was established in 2012.

FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and others in preparation for the test to minimize confusion and maximize the public safety value of the test.

The agencies have set a backup testing date of October 11, which will be used if there is widespread severe weather or other significant events occurring on October 4 that derail the planned test.