As published in 2010 June 11 Pacific Business News by Nanea Kalani.
Honolulu entrepreneur Hank Wuh has created a company called Skai Technologies to function as a “hybrid” business accelerator and venture capital fund for technology startups in Hawaii.
Initial companies in Skai Technologies’ portfolio will include four startups that have been spun out of Wuh’s seven-year-old company, Cellular Bioengineering Inc., as well as two ventures launched earlier this year.
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“We started with Cellular Bioengineering, and initially we really were very focused on a solution for corneal blindness. But then we were creating new companies just about every year,” Wuh, CEO of Cellular Bioengineering and Skai Technologies, told PBN. “Over the years we evolved and flourished and really started to grow, which wasn’t anticipated. It became obvious that we’re a venture accelerator. We needed a mechanism to spin all these companies out and create new separate entities that can create and generate jobs.”
The name Skai was created as a combination of the words “sky” and the Hawaiian word for sea, “kai.”
“Where the ocean meets the sky is the horizon, which holds infinite possibilities,” Wuh said. “So we invented the word ‘skai’.”
Wuh said to date the spinouts have been internally funded, “but we have plans to capitalize on the products being made through private equity firms on the Mainland and in Asia.”
The forming of Skai Technologies to oversee a portfolio of startups could help facilitate the selling of the startups.
Read more: Hank Wuh starts accelerator/VC hybrid as next step - Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
