Rhode Island’s old industrial base had already been decimated by the mid-1990s when state leaders scrambled to find ways to reinvent and revive the economy. High-tech seemed to be the way to go.
Rhode Island had many of the needed ingredients to take advantage: strong universities, promising research, talented engineers and scientists.
But something was missing. Successful startups were flourishing in Boston while Rhode Island lagged far behind.
“We looked around and said, ‘We don’t get it. How come all these cool companies are in Boston?’ ” recalled Thorne Sparkman, referring to the business leaders, labor officials and policymakers who served on the state’s then-active Economic Policy Council. “Why don’t we have startups?”
“The answer was venture capital,” he said. Or the lack of it.
At the time, there were very few investors in Rhode Island willing to make a bet on young, risky companies that needed a financial runway for takeoff. Ventures with potential for high growth were following the flow of money elsewhere, namely into Massachusetts.
That realization led to the creation of Slater Technology Fund, a quasi-public venture capital and economic development fund that for 25 years has been taking chances on local startups, using what was initially millions of dollars of taxpayer seed money.
Since its launch in 2000, the Slater Fund has invested $44 million in more than 140 early-stage companies that have shown the potential of becoming profitable, according to the fund’s accounting.
More importantly, according to Sparkman – who serves as Slater’s managing director – that infusion of cash has spurred “follow-on” deals by other investors totaling about $1.2 billion. It has helped create $909 million in economic impact from salaries alone, according to Slater.
Observers say the fund, run by a staff of three, has been indispensable in the evolution of Rhode Island’s so-called knowledge economy.
“From the economic development standpoint, it has been huge for the state,” said Glenn Robertelli, CEO of RI Bio, a life sciences industry association. “There are a lot of early-stage firms that Slater has invested in that a larger fund would not invest in.”
Indeed, Slater was there early for Ben Sorkin, CEO of Flux Marine Ltd., an East Greenwich-based maker of electric boat motors. And on top of an initial investment in 2019, Slater has completed two follow-on deals for a total of $350,000.
“Besides just investing early, [Slater managers] continue to invest, which spurs additional investment,” said Sorkin, noting that private VC firms partnered for a $15 million funding round last year. “When other investors see [Slater] continue to write checks, it gives them confidence and excitement.”
Other success stories include Andera Inc., which developed online account-opening software for banks in the early 2000s. Andera provided Slater with a profitable exit when it merged with a competitor in 2015 and that company was acquired in a multibillion-dollar private equity deal.
There have been setbacks, too.
In one of its biggest losses, Slater invested about $1 million in NABsys, a Providence-based nanobiotechnology company that originated from Brown University research and developed genome-mapping tech aimed at faster, cheaper DNA analysis.
The company collapsed in 2015 after funding struggles, costing about 40 jobs. And while founder Barrett Bready reacquired and revived the company as NABsys 2.0 LLC, the finances were restructured, wiping out the stakes of previous investors.
“We were the earliest investors,” Sparkman said. “But we won’t make money on them.”
Still, he prefers to look at that sort of situation as a partial victory, despite losing money. “That has happened to us before, but the company ends up being successful,” he said.
Of the 144 companies Slater has invested in, approximately 6 out of 10 have not returned capital to the fund.
What bothers Sparkman are the missed opportunities.
“It’s akin to NFL teams passing up on Tom Brady,” he said.
An example was Feast & Fettle Inc., the Rhode Island-based prepared-meal delivery company launched in 2016 that has since generated millions of dollars in revenue.
Sparkman recalls being in constant contact with co-founder Carlos Ventura around 2019 as the company was planning an expansion.
“I kept making him answer more questions,” Sparkman said. “Finally, I said yes and he said, ‘No, you’re too slow.’ But I couldn’t see it fast enough.”
BECOMING SELF-FUNDED
Rhode Island hasn’t been completely devoid of investors with money to deploy. Cherrystone Angel Group LLC was formed in 2004 and remains active, providing early-seed funding to local startups.
Meanwhile, Point Judith Capital – first co-founded by former Gov. Gina M. Raimondo in 2001 – moved to the greener pastures inside the Route 128 Beltway of Greater Boston. The affiliated Village Ventures also pulled out.
In more recent times, Rogue Ventures Partners, an Oregon-based venture capital firm, has been operating in Rhode Island, “writing checks and making great deals,” according to Thomas Sperry, Rogue managing director.
New York-based Collide Capital LLC and Massachusetts-based Arctaris Impact Investors have also been active locally.
Slater operates differently. Instead of looking to maximize investors, fund managers are tasked with taking actions that will help grow the economy and generate sustainable returns that are invested back into local startups.
The state allocated $37 million to the fund over the first 15 years, but returns from its investments have brought in more than $28 million, meaning the operations are now self-funded without further state allocations, Slater says.
Beyond state support, the federal government has provided capital to the fund twice under the State Small Business Credit Initiative, most recently in 2023 with a $12 million allocation through an agreement with R.I. Commerce Corp. In 2012, $9 million in SSBCI capital was given to Slater, which helped launch 26 companies by 2021, according to Sparkman.
Arctaris, Collide Capital and Rogue have also received allocations of SSBCI capital.
In 2022, as Slater’s successful startups needed more investment, fund managers created a separate vehicle – RightHill Ventures – to raise and manage private investment capital and make larger follow-on deals.
At this point, Sparkman says, Slater manages about $30 million in assets and capital – $20 million from the state and $10 million in private capital.
Rogue’s Sperry doesn’t look upon Slater as a competitor. In fact, Slater, Rogue and Collide were part of a $5.7 million funding round in March for Flourish Collective Inc., a maternal health platform founded in Newport that connects expectant mothers with doulas.
“Rhode Island is too small to be competitive,” said Sperry, a Jamestown resident who teaches a course on venture capital at the University of Rhode Island. “Rhode Island is nascent, and the more capital [high-growth companies] have, the more [VC firms] they have, the better.”
Observers argue that these investments fall short of what is needed to create a thriving startup ecosystem.
“What the general public needs to know is these people are doing economic development in a category where it has been difficult for Rhode Island to stand out,” said Annette Tonti, managing director of RIHub, a nonprofit startup incubator. “That is a category where, when you look up the data, we are awfully behind other states.”
OUTDATED MINDSETS?
Tonti, who has founded three startups, says a shift away from traditional approaches that prioritize office spaces filled with employees would help.
She believes it is essential for policymakers to change their outdated mindsets to adapt their thinking to support remote and high-growth businesses, noting the necessity of looking beyond the usual employment metrics when evaluating success.
“It’s hard for people to understand the nature of these businesses that Slater invests in,” she said.
Case in point: RxVantage Inc., a software platform that connects doctors and pharmaceutical representatives. Slater and affiliated RightHill Ventures invested $1.6 million over a decade, according to Slater.
The company launched in Rhode Island, then moved to California to meet the requirements of another investor and later returned to the Ocean State. Meanwhile, the company has become the third-largest job creator in Slater’s portfolio with an estimated payroll of $75 million.
So far, Slater and RightHill’s investments have returned $4.6 million, and the two funds still own shares worth another $2.1 million, according to a recent report from Slater.
“It’s old-time thinking [that] everyone must be sitting in Rhode Island,” Tonti said. “These are high-gross businesses. That means they grow beyond Rhode Island pretty quickly.”
Right now, Robertelli of RI Bio says, Slater is perfectly suited to play a vital role as the state focuses on developing life sciences in Rhode Island.
Startups in this sector are often built around novel ideas based on university research. That’s where Slater can step in, providing early money when the risk is initially too high for bigger investors.
Slater is also patient, willing to deal with the longer timelines required for life sciences startups looking to make breakthroughs with big potential payoffs.
“The rewards might not always be there, or they may take a while,” Robertelli said. “But when they come, they will be giant.”
On the frontier in therapeutics
Born out of the University of Rhode Island, Mind Immune Therapeutics Inc. is pushing the boundaries in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Mind Immune is developing therapeutics targeting neuroinflammatory processes associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease, as well as neuropathic pain. Its therapeutics remain in development.
The company was founded in 2016, and several of its founders and scientists held faculty appointments at URI.
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SCIENCE-MINDED: Kenneth Rose is director of translational science at Mind Immune Therapeutics.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Crucial to the company’s development has been the support from the Slater Technology Fund, which provided $500,000 in seed money 10 years ago, and another $250,000 a year later.
This partnership has been instrumental in guiding Mind Immune through the process of seeking permission to begin testing its therapeutics on humans.
In 2025, Mind Immune also received a $1.45 million investment from Slater-affiliated RightHill Ventures as a part of a $30 million funding round.
While its staff of 14 workers is mostly located in South Kingstown now, Mind Immune is planning to operate at 150 Richmond St., the new state-sponsored lab building in Providence.
Emerging genetic research on immune system dysfunction shows it is a critical factor in brain health, but Kenneth Rose, director of translational science at Mind Immune, believes the uniqueness of the company’s approach is its belief that these diseases should be viewed through the lens of autoimmune dysfunction.
It’s not easy to persuade venture capital teams, no matter how much in-house expertise, to lay out cash to fund the company’s vision. But Slater made the leap and others followed, Rose says.
“They were some of the first big money. So, they were the foundation of the company,” he said. “Without Slater, they might never have started.”
Christopher Allen
A firm built on ‘digital electricity’
VoltServer Inc. had only been around a year when Slater Technology Fund decided to make a $250,000 equity investment in the digital electricity startup in 2012.
That stake allowed company founder Stephen Eaves to develop and commercialize VoltServer’s Packet Energy Technology, an alternative system of electricity distribution that offers cost, safety and infrastructure advantages.
The technology splits energy into packets and transmits them while halting transmission instantly if a fault is detected. It can be run alongside fiber optic cables in the same conduits, reducing installation time and material use.
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PLUGGED IN: VoltServer Inc. Chief Technology Officer Stanley Mlyniec in the company’s East Greenwich facility.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
VoltServer, based in East Greenwich, began shipping products in 2015 and today powers 4G/LTE and 5G mobile infrastructure in large sports stadiums, smart systems in office towers and hotels, and indoor agriculture operations.
The company employs more than 50 people and raised $17.5 million in a “follow-on” funding round in 2023 that included an investment from Slater-affiliated RightHill Ventures.
Chief Technology Officer Stanley Mlyniec, a Rhode Island native, says the state has the opportunity to become a true innovation hub.
“Getting everyone talking and realizing how many resources [there] are in this state is important,” he said. “We don’t have the giant names. But we have a lot of medium and small players.”
A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Mlyniec sees upgrades to his alma mater as a microcosm of the larger changes in Rhode Island’s tech startup ecosystem, which cannot be sustained without better education and training programs.
“In terms on engineering, it’s drastically improved,” he said.
Now on firm financial footing and experiencing growth, VoltServer can only raise Rhode Island’s profile in the tech sector.
“We sell everywhere. But the engineering and operations are based in East Greenwich right off Main Street,” he said.
Christopher Allen
Flux is on course for big success
Flux Marine Ltd. can no longer be considered a pure startup.
The Bristol-based manufacturer of electric outboard boat motors is firmly in the growth stage, producing an ever-increasing number of its propulsion systems from its 40,000-square-foot facility in Bristol’s Unity Park business campus.
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MOTORHEADS: Ben Sorkin, CEO of Flux Marine Ltd., left, works with powertrain engineer Milo Ferrazzoli in 2022.
PBN FILE PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM[/caption]
CEO Ben Sorkin says Flux had delivered more high-voltage electric outboards than its North American competitors between May 2024 and November 2025. The company broke through seven figures in sales revenue in 2024, and tripled those numbers in 2025, Sorkin said, declining to be more specific.
Slater has provided a helping hand in the growth, with investments as early as 2019, a year after the company’s official founding. More recently, Slater invested in a financing round in mid-2024 to help Flux complete its commercial launch.
Sorkin had first received seed money from Princeton University’s Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering department in 2015, allowing Sorkin to start developing the first iteration of an electric boat motor.
Along with co-founders Daylin Frantin and Jon Lord, the three grew Flux Marine from a garage to the factory in Bristol and about 40 employees.
Now delivering powerful, all-electric outboard motors to companies and customers around the country, in 2025 the company announced a $15 million infusion of capital to scale outboard production and expand core technology sales.
The funding round came from existing investors, as well as a new backer, Collide Capital, bringing total funding to over $30 million since 2020.
In February, Flux unveiled the latest version of its 115-horsepower outboard motor and modular battery pack at the Miami International Boat Show, a version designed to be produced in larger numbers to meet demand in the recreational and commercial markets.
“The 2026 system reflects how we are evolving the Flux platform to support scale,” Sorkin said.
Christopher Allen
Laundry venture uses tech to clean up
Entrepreneur John MacKrell established his “laundry-as-a-service” company HappyNest Inc. in New York City in 2018, but money soon brought the former investment banker to Rhode Island.
The money was from Slater Technology Fund, which led a $250,000 seed round with existing investors in 2019. Thorne Sparkman, Slater’s managing director, saw the potential in using software and logistics technology to coordinate on-demand laundry pickup and delivery through local laundromats.
A year later – amid the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – Slater placed another bet on HappyNest, investing through a dedicated investment fund to raise additional capital for the company. It was part of $1.26 million raised by the company over two seed rounds.
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PICKING UP: John MacKrell launched his laundry business HappyNest Inc. in 2018.
PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS[/caption]
Slater-affiliated RightHill Ventures made its own investment of $250,000.
The financial backing made the difference when MacKrell was deciding where the company should put down roots from the start.
“Slater’s support was a major factor in our decision to expand our operations here in Rhode Island,” he said.
The company is based in East Greenwich and more than half of its 28 employees live in Rhode Island, but, as of March, it was partnered with laundromats in 39 states and recently expanded into Manchester, N.H.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Aurora, Ill.
HappyNest allows its users to choose either a weekly or “by request” plan and specific preference. With a minimum order fee of $25, HappyNest picks up and washes users’ clothes and returns them a day later, with no delivery fee.
Right now, the company averages 45,000 laundry pickups monthly, has $38 million in annual revenue and turns a profit.
“We’d already seen digital technologies revolutionize grocery, transportation, music and many other aspects of American life, so laundry was the logical next step,” Sparkman said.
Christopher Allen
