We are keeping a close eye on global economic conditions and we have adjusted to the new normal way of conducting virtual meetings. While the pandemic has certainly created challenges and changes in the investment community, we see new ventures starting every week and there are still plenty of good opportunities. I am happy to report the NAIC Steering Committee has been both active and productive since our last update.

• As I reported back in June, we invested in TSU, a new social media platform. Over the past few months, TSU continued to add subscribers and gain traction in the marketplace. While the product is not complete, they are on plan and have an optimistic outlook for the future.

• Net Capital entered into a agreement to be acquired and upon reaching a trigger point in volume, it will become part of a publicly traded entity. This could take a long time or potentially fail. However, our best option was to participate in the transaction and hope for the best.

• As expected on the heels of their growing success in the marketplace Cyware is advancing to a Series A round. Based on an analysis of the risk and potential return, the Steering Committee decided to take advantage of our option to participate in the next round. Though additional participation was offered, we remained conservative taking only our allotment and no more.

• Following an impressive presentation by the founder of QSM, and based on our due diligence as well as research and opinions from other groups, we have committed $50,000 to the initial round. This innovative group has invented an instrument which can detect a very specific and common ear infection in dogs.  With a vast market, manufacturing and distribution in place, and the longer term potential to take this technology to the human market, we expect a very good return from this investment.

• Trilio is doing very well despite the current economic climate. Revenue is up, they are gaining new customers and they are moving into new technology markets. Management are advancing towards the second round of a Series B to raise $15 million. We have not discussed our participation in this round.

• AllWork has suffered from the severe drop off in retail activity. They tightened their belt and have sufficient funding to survive through the end of the year. Assuming retail activity comes back, they will resume their growth albeit 8 to 12 months behind the original plan. Their resilience and relationships with key partners are likely to preserve the value of this investment and will likely result in a positive long term outcome for us.

• DrinkMoreGood has also retrenched, giving up the retail store and selling it’s production facility to Recess, itself a beverage startup and DMG’s largest customer. While DMG may remain a small, locally produced niche syrup company, DMG (and therefore we) are now shareholders in Recess which hold great promise of a huge ROI.

We evaluated but passed on several other opportunities to support a startup with a new product or service, and we will continue to look for deal flow. We welcome thoughts and input from our members, both present and past. Of course, we are also interested in attracting new members who can contribute to our intellectual and financial asset base. If you know anyone who may be of interest send them our way.

Our three key goals remain:

1. Manage the current portfolio to maximize return to our members who are invested with us,
2. Identify new investment opportunities to increase the portfolio value and add more potential return,
3. Grow the membership to broaden participation and increase our investment power.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me or Greg, or any member of the Steering Committee on copy here.  

Joe Puglisi

Co-Chair

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