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A federal investigation has led New York State officials to accuse a Brookville-based venture capital firm of failing to disclose possible conflicts of interest occurring when the venture firm invested federal money in local companies in which it had a large stake. 
However, <a class="DC-al2" data-document-id="1372903" data-note-id="191505" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/business/documents-disclose-canrock-s-potential-conflicts-of-interest-1.9723915#document/p1/a191505" target="_blank">emails</a> requested by Newsday and provided by Canrock Ventures show that Canrock <a class="DC-al2" data-document-id="1372903" data-note-id="191507" data-page-id="2" href="http://www.newsday.com/business/documents-disclose-canrock-s-potential-conflicts-of-interest-1.9723915#document/p2/a191507" target="_blank">reminded officials</a> at Empire State Development of one of the venture firm's <a class="DC-al2" data-document-id="1372903" data-note-id="191462" data-page-id="3" href="http://www.newsday.com/business/documents-disclose-canrock-s-potential-conflicts-of-interest-1.9723915#document/p3/a191462" target="_blank">potential conflicts</a> days before the agency allowed it to invest $500,000 in General Sentiment Inc. 
A spokesman for Empire State Development, the state's primary business-aid agency, said Wednesday night that the emails do not constitute sufficient notification by Canrock to the agency of a conflict. He also said Canrock violated its contract with the agency by not using a committee to report the conflict to the state. 
Canrock -- the venture firm chosen two years ago to handle investments on Long Island through the state's Innovate NY Fund -- <a class="DC-al2" data-document-id="1372903" data-note-id="191619" data-page-id="23" href="http://www.newsday.com/business/documents-disclose-canrock-s-potential-conflicts-of-interest-1.9723915#document/p23/a191619" target="_blank">first disclosed</a> its 46 percent ownership stake in General Sentiment to Empire State Development in February 2012. A Canrock executive reiterated that possible conflict in an email exchange a year later, as Canrock prepared to make another investment in General Sentiment. 
The General Sentiment investment, along with Canrock's investment of $1.3 million from Innovate NY in three other technology startups in Nassau County, is being reviewed by the U.S. Treasury Department to determine whether conflict-of-interest <a class="DC-al2" data-document-id="1372903" data-note-id="191623" data-page-id="83" href="http://www.newsday.com/business/documents-disclose-canrock-s-potential-conflicts-of-interest-1.9723915#document/p83/a191623" target="_blank">rules were violated</a>. 
While New York State administers Innovate NY, two-thirds of the $45 million in the fund comes from Washington. 
The federal probe led Empire State Development last year to freeze nearly $4 million from Innovate NY that had been earmarked for investing in Long Island startups, drying up an important source of funding for small tech businesses. In the first nine months of this year, $10 million from the program has been invested elsewhere in the state. 
Empire State Development officials first told Newsday in March that they didn't know about the potential conflicts in Canrock's use of Innovate NY money. Later, the officials said the venture firm had failed to notify them of conflicts immediately before making each investment. 
But the email messages show Canrock disclosed one possible conflict three days before putting Innovate NY funds into General Sentiment. 
In an email sent on Jan. 22, 2013, Steve Black, then Canrock's chief financial officer, described in detail to Sharon Rutter, a program director at Empire State Development, how the venture firm had made five loans to General Sentiment in 2010-12. 
Further, Black said Canrock wanted to convert the loans into 2.9 million shares of the company's common stock. General Sentiment subsequently valued the shares in a financial statement at more than $2.5 million. 
Rutter <a class="DC-al2" data-document-id="1372903" data-note-id="191465" data-page-id="2" href="http://www.newsday.com/business/documents-disclose-canrock-s-potential-conflicts-of-interest-1.9723915#document/p2/a191465" target="_blank">acknowledged the email</a>, saying, "can you call me on this?" in a reply. 
Canrock eventually received the go-ahead from the development agency and the General Sentiment transaction was completed on Jan. 25, 2013, in the way Black had outlined in the email exchange, according to Canrock executives. 
Brookville-based General Sentiment tracks public opinion on the Internet about topics such as consumer products, entertainment, politics and sports. 
Newsday requested a copy of the email and other documents from Empire State Development more than a year ago under the state Freedom of Information Law. The agency has yet to fulfill the request. 
Black did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment Wednesday.&nbsp;Rutter referred inquiries to the agency's spokesman, Jason Conwall.&nbsp; 
Conwall said: "The email exchange in question was about matching fund requirements and not a potential conflict of interest. Furthermore, it did not contain information on the ownership percentage of Canrock Ventures' principals or other information necessary to evaluate a potential conflict." 
Conwall also said that Canrock's 2013 contract with the agency "clearly states the requirement to raise potential conflicts of interest directly, and the appropriate mechanism for Canrock to do so. In this regard, Canrock did not comply with the requirements of its contract." 
Asked to comment on the content of the email, Canrock managing directors Mark Fasciano, Jim Estill and Ted Smith said in a statement that Rutter "was asking for additional detail about prior ownership investments they [ESD] would later approve" in General Sentiment -- "proving that ESD knew about it and approved of the strategy." 
The directors, in written responses to a reporter's questions, said Empire State Development never asked about potential conflicts involving Innovate NY investments in Karma411 (now called Crowdster), ThriveMetrics and Sentiment Alpha Capital Management. 
Fasciano co-founded each startup, along with General Sentiment. He also is chairman of the board of directors of three of them. 
<a class="DC-al2" data-document-id="1372903" data-note-id="191616" data-page-id="18" href="http://www.newsday.com/business/documents-disclose-canrock-s-potential-conflicts-of-interest-1.9723915#document/p18/a191616" target="_blank">Fasciano's connections</a> to the computer software businesses were disclosed to Empire State Development in Canrock's February 2012 application for the Innovate NY program. They also can be found on the website of each startup or on the Canrock site. 
The four startups are housed in Canrock's business incubator at LIU Post. Fasciano said in a January interview that incubator tenants pay a monthly "shared services" fee to Canrock, a portion of which goes to his salary and that of Estill. He also said some Innovate NY money was likely used to pay the fee. 
"ESD was well aware of Canrock's deep involvement in all these companies immediately prior to each Innovate NY investment," Fasciano, Estill and Smith said. "The details of all these investments were discussed at length with ESD officials." 
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Business

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Venture firm says emails show it notified NYS of potential conflicts in its investments

EXCLUSIVE: Firm claims emails prove disclosures

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New York State officials say Canrock Ventures, a venture capital firm in Brookville, failed to notify them of potential conflicts of interest when it invested taxpayer money in local technology startups. 
An official with Empire State Development, the state's primary business-aid agency, said under the terms of a written agreement with the state, Canrock should have convened a “valuation committee" to review its proposed investments of federal funds in four computer software startups. 
The four businesses were co-founded by a Canrock partner, and the venture firm holds sizable stakes in them. The official requested anonymity. 
Mark Fasciano, the Canrock partner, said Tuesday that he disclosed all of Canrock's holdings and his roles in the companies to the state at the start of the investment process. 
$5.7M FOR STARTUPS 
In 2012, New York State selected Canrock to receive $5.7 million to be invested in startups on Long Island and in New York City as part of the new Innovate NY Fund. Innovate NY had been established a year earlier to steer $45 million -- more than three-quarters from the federal Treasury -- to promising New York tech businesses. 
Fasciano, of Port Washington, is chairman of the board of directors of three of the companies that received Innovate NY funds. 
All four of the companies are housed in Canrock's business incubator at LIU Post, where they pay a monthly fee for services -- a portion of which goes toward the salaries of Fasciano and another Canrock partner. The startups likely used some federal money to pay the fee, Fasciano said in January. 
Canrock's 2013 contract with New York State, obtained by Newsday under the state Freedom of Information Law, stipulates that conflicts of interest are to be weighed by a valuation committee. 
The Empire State Development official said the committee is composed of two state representatives and a Canrock representative, and can only be convened by the venture firm, not New York State. 
“They [Canrock] have to disclose potential conflicts of interest to the valuation committee," the official said last month. “They did not meet that requirement." 
FASCIANO: REQUIREMENT MET 
Fasciano disputed that claim. “Not only was [Empire State Development] informed of these prior investments [by Canrock in the software companies] at the time the investments were made, but this was one of the reasons why the state said they chose to include us on the Innovate NY program, and provision was made in the agreement with ESD to permit such co-investments," he said Tuesday. 
Valuation committees were also included in the state contracts of six other venture firms investing Innovate NY money. None of the six called valuation committee meetings to handle conflicts of interest “because no conflicts had arisen," an Empire State Development spokesman said. 
Some experts questioned whether the valuation committees were effective. 
David Reiss, a law professor and research director for Brooklyn Law School's Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship, said, “a self-reporting system," such as the valuation committees, would only deter fraud if the probability of getting caught is high and the consequences are grave. 
“The likelihood of getting caught here sounds pretty low," he said. 
CERTIFICATION FILED 
The Empire State Development spokesman said Tuesday the committees were “not the only means of alerting ESD to potential conflicts of interest in Innovate NY investments." 
ESD also requires written certifications that no conflicts exist, which, documents show, Canrock filed. 
The state agency suspended Canrock late last year from making new investments while a review of its Innovate NY investments is conducted. 
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of the Inspector General is expected to release an audit of New York's Innovate NY Fund this month. The review began after Newsday asked Treasury officials last November about one of the tech startups in which Canrock invested Innovate NY money. 
<h3>INNOVATE NY FUND AT A GLANCE</h3> 
New York State created the Innovate NY Fund in 2011 to invest in technology startups through venture capital firms in the state. 
FUNDING 
$35M from federal State Small Business Credit Initiative 
$10M from Goldman Sachs investment bank 
VENTURE CAPITAL PARTICIPANTS 
Canrock Ventures, Brookville 
Cayuga Ventures, Ithaca 
Excell Partners, Rochester 
ff Venture Capital, Manhattan 
Golden Seeds, Manhattan 
SCP Incubators/Z80 Labs, Buffalo 
Stonehenge Growth Capital, Manhattan 
Source: Empire State Development

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Canrock Ventures didn't report potential conflicts in LI tech investments, officials say

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A state venture-capital program has suspended new investments on Long Island while officials review whether a local participant violated conflict-of-interest rules, documents show. 
The subject of the review is Canrock Ventures of Brookville, a 4-year-old venture-capital firm chosen by the state to invest Innovate NY program funds in Nassau and Suffolk counties. 
The suspension means nearly $4 million targeted for local technology startups has been frozen since late last year, said two officials who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter. More than three-quarters of the money comes from the federal Treasury. 
While Innovate NY has been dormant on Long Island, $5.9 million from the $45 million fund went to 25 startups elsewhere in the state during the January-April period, according to the most recent available data. 
Funding freeze lamented 
The exclusion of Long Island has heightened concerns of some business leaders about the dearth of venture capital and its impact on the region's economic future. 
"There are a lot of small startups out there, and early-stage financing is very important," said Lawrence Waldman, an adviser at EisnerAmper accountants and treasurer of the Long Island Association, the region's largest business group. "If that doesn't happen, the Island doesn't have that growth of businesses" in the technology sector. 
The freeze was in response to a U.S. Treasury review of Canrock, the firm selected by New York State in 2012 to invest $5.7 million in Innovate NY funds here. 
The Treasury's examination focuses on whether Canrock violated federal conflict-of-interest rules by investing taxpayer dollars in computer software companies in which it has sizable stakes. 
$2 million at issue 
Canrock has put nearly $2 million of Innovate NY funds into five startups where it is either the largest shareholder or owns a significant stake. Four of them were co-founded by Mark Fasciano, a Canrock partner, according to the companies' websites and Fasciano. He is also chairman of the board of directors of three of the companies. 
In addition, four of the startups are housed in a Canrock-run business incubator at LIU Post. Each tenant pays a monthly fee to Canrock, a portion of which goes toward the salaries of Fasciano and another Canrock partner, Fasciano said in a January interview. He said the startups likely used some federal money to pay the fee. 
Fasciano, 46, of Port Washington, did not respond yesterday to an email message seeking comment for this story. 
In January, Fasciano denied there were any conflicts of interest in Canrock's Innovate NY investments. He said New York officials knew about his dual roles as a Canrock partner and board chairman of three of the companies. 
Roles reported earlier 
Fasciano's role in founding four of the startups and Canrock's investment in each was spelled out in Canrock's Innovate NY application, according to a redacted copy obtained under the state Freedom of Information Law. 
Other documents show the chief executive of each startup certified that there were no conflicts in the Innovate NY investment received from Canrock. 
Empire State Development, which oversees the Innovate NY program, said last night that Canrock's application "did not provide enough information to evaluate future potential conflicts." 
State officials also said Canrock failed to convene a required committee to discuss conflicts. 
"The bottom line is that Canrock did not meet the terms of its contract with ESD," said agency spokesman Jason Conwall. 
The review by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General began after Newsday asked the department questions last November about one of Canrock's federally funded investments. Last week, a spokesman for the inspector general said the audit would be issued by Oct. 15. 
Empire State Development began a separate review late last year after initially telling a shareholder in one of the tech startups that Canrock had complied with conflict-of-interest regulations. 
Canrock and state officials have discussed Canrock's returning the $2 million to the state. An Empire State Development official who requested anonymity said, "We've proposed potential solutions to Canrock, including paying us back."

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NY suspends LI venture investments during Canrock review

BZFASC05 Mark Fasciano CROPPED mg

U.S. Treasury investigators are trying to determine whether a venture capital firm in Brookville <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033348" data-note-id="146915" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/u-s-treasury-refers-canrock-ventures-to-ig-for-review-1.7466766#document/p1/a146915" target="_blank">violated conflict-of-interest rules</a> by investing taxpayer dollars in small technology companies in which it has sizable stakes. 
Canrock Ventures, a 4-year-old investment business, is the subject of the review by Treasury's Office of Inspector General, a department spokesman confirmed. 
The inspector general's review of Canrock began after Newsday asked the Treasury Department questions in early November about one of Canrock's federally funded investments. 
A spokesman for the inspector general's office said Friday, "I can confirm that Canrock is one of the entities that our auditing people are going to be looking at in connection with their review of New York's" use of the federal investment dollars. 
In 2012, Canrock was among seven venture firms <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033349" data-note-id="146914" data-page-id="2" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/canrock-ventures-awarded-4-5-million-in-innovate-ny-funds-from-washington-1.7466762#document/p2/a146914" target="_blank">chosen by New York State</a> to invest a total of $35 million in federal funds in tech startups across the state. New York created an investment pool, the Innovate NY Fund, whose goal is to back promising new businesses with a combination of government and private money. 
Canrock has invested nearly $2 million of Innovate NY funds in five computer software companies where it is either the largest shareholder or owns a significant stake. Four of the startups were co-founded by Mark Fasciano, a Canrock partner, according to the companies' websites and Fasciano. He also is chairman of the board of directors of three of them. 
Treasury guidelines prohibit conflicts of interest between the venture firms giving out federal dollars and the startups receiving them. 
The somewhat arcane rules stipulate that startups getting investments of federal funds cannot be "<a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033355" data-note-id="146909" data-page-id="16" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/conflicts-of-interest-prohibition-1.7466707#document/p16/a146909" target="_blank">a related interest</a> of an . . . executive officer, director, principal shareholder . . . of the financial institution lender or investor" that is putting federal money in the startup. 
Venture firms such as Canrock must <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033353" data-note-id="146908" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/required-document-certifying-that-no-conflicts-of-interest-exist-1.7466724#document/p1/a146908" target="_blank">certify in writing</a> that there are no conflicts of interest in their investments. 
No conflicts, Fasciano says 
Fasciano, in an interview, denied that there were any conflicts in Canrock's Innovate NY investments. After their own examination, state officials last fall said Canrock was <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033351" data-note-id="146910" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/nys-canrock-ventures-is-in-compliance-with-investment-rules-1.7466731#document/p1/a146910" target="_blank">in compliance</a>. They since have decided to <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033368" data-note-id="146897" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/nys-launches-second-review-of-canrock-ventures-use-of-innovate-ny-funds-1.7466530#document/p1/a146897" target="_blank">review the matter further</a>. 
Treasury takes conflicts seriously. In July, the department took back money invested in an energy startup in St. Louis because of a rules violation that auditors called "a <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033358" data-note-id="146907" data-page-id="6" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/treasury-audit-finds-conflicts-of-interest-in-a-missouri-investment-1.7466596#document/p6/a146907" target="_blank">reckless misuse of funds</a>." 
Treasury found that a director of the Missouri agency that invested federal dollars in startups was also a director of the parent company of the energy startup that received the funds. Treasury voided the investment even though the director was recused from the vote on investing in the energy startup. 
Canrock has been allocated a total of $5.7 million in Innovate NY funds to invest on Long Island and in New York City: $4.5 million comes from Washington and $1.2 million from the Goldman Sachs investment bank. 
Canrock and Fasciano have been key players in trying to develop a technology economy in Nassau and Suffolk counties that creates high-paying jobs and keeps young people here. Since its founding in 2010, Canrock has invested more than $18 million in 22 companies on Long Island and elsewhere. 
Fasciano, 45, of Port Washington, was among Gov. Andrew M. <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033363" data-note-id="146905" data-page-id="2" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/canrock-ventures-managing-director-mark-fasciano-is-member-of-gov-cuomo-s-li-regional-economic-deve-1.7466573#document/p2/a146905" target="_blank">Cuomo's first appointees</a> to his Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, which devised a five-year job creation plan and recommends projects for state aid. 
Fasciano said there were no conflicts of interest in how Canrock deployed Innovate NY money, and that New York officials knew about his dual roles as a Canrock partner and board chairman of three of the companies receiving funds. 
He also said Canrock's deep involvement with the recipients of Innovate NY dollars, while uncommon in the venture capital industry, is crucial to the firm's plan for boosting startups' survival rate. 
"Not only do I believe there is no conflict of interest, but this close relationship that we have with our companies is the heart of what we do at Canrock . . . it's essential to the whole strategy of building companies," he said. "It was disclosed from the start in our application to New York State" for federal funds. "Canrock is in compliance." 
State officials concurred last year. 
Responding to complaints from a shareholder in one of the tech startups, Empire State Development reviewed reports filed by Canrock and spoke with Fasciano. "<a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033351" data-note-id="146910" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/nys-canrock-ventures-is-in-compliance-with-investment-rules-1.7466731#document/p1/a146910" target="_blank">We are satisfied</a> that Canrock is in compliance with the program's requirements," Kenneth Adams, chief executive of the agency, which administers Innovate NY, wrote in a Nov. 1 letter to the shareholder. 
'A more detailed review' 
A month later, state officials decided to take a second look. "I have directed my staff to conduct <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033368" data-note-id="146897" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/nys-launches-second-review-of-canrock-ventures-use-of-innovate-ny-funds-1.7466530#document/p1/a146897" target="_blank">a more detailed review</a> and look further into the concerns raised in your letter," Adams said in a Dec. 2 letter to the shareholder. 
On Friday, Empire State spokesman Jason Conwall said, "As the review is ongoing, we cannot comment further at this time." 
New York State doesn't select the companies that receive Innovate NY investments; they're determined by the participating venture capital firms. But the state is ultimately responsible to Treasury for the proper use of the funds. 
Most of the <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033365" data-note-id="146903" data-page-id="1" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/canrock-ventures-is-among-seven-venture-capital-firms-receiving-innovate-ny-funds-1.7466555#document/p1/a146903" target="_blank">Innovate NY money</a> entrusted to Canrock comes from the State Small Business Credit Initiative, a $1.5 billion program established four years ago by Congress to help lift the country out of the Great Recession. 
Fasciano said Canrock has invested Innovate NY funds in the five software startups because each offers the promise of a big return when it's sold to another company or issues stock to the public. 
He said Canrock also has met the program's requirement to invest twice as much, or about $3.8 million, in private funds (including its own money) in the startups. 
Four of the software startups that Canrock has invested Innovate NY dollars in are housed at its business incubator, ThoughtBox@LIU, on the LIU Post campus in Brookville. Fasciano said that, generally, Canrock is the largest shareholder in incubator tenants. 
Each tenant pays a monthly fee to Canrock for accounting, human resources, management consulting and other services. 
Fasciano said this "shared services" fee is a component of the salaries that Canrock pays its staff and two of the three managing directors. The startups have likely used some of the federal money to pay the fee, he said. 
General Sentiment Inc., one of the tenants, was the subject of Newsday's initial inquiries to Treasury. 
In January 2013, Canrock invested $500,000 from Innovate NY into General Sentiment, a Brookville tech business. Fasciano and others founded the company in 2008. 
The Innovate NY investment came after General Sentiment ended 2012 with $361 in the bank, according to the company's year-end financial report, which Newsday reviewed. The business also was on its third CEO in four years. 
General Sentiment tracks public opinion on the Internet about topics such as consumer products, entertainment, politics and sports. It accurately predicted the winner of "American Idol" in 2011. The next year, it lost more than $1.7 million on revenue of about $934,000. 
In four <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033436" data-note-id="146913" data-page-id="2" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/shareholder-conflicts-of-interest-with-canrock-ventures-use-of-innovate-ny-funds-1.7466354#document/p2/a146913" target="_blank">letters to state officials</a> last year, General Sentiment shareholder William J. Mich Jr., a software executive in Ronkonkoma, asked how the company qualified for a taxpayer investment. State law stipulates that recipients of Innovate NY money "demonstrate a potential for <a class="annotation-link" data-document-id="1033361" data-note-id="146906" data-page-id="5" href="http://www.newsday.com/news/breaking/nys-law-investment-candidates-should-demonstrate-potential-for-substantial-growth-1.7466586#document/p5/a146906" target="_blank">substantial growth and job development.</a>" 
Fasciano said that General Sentiment "has outstanding potential . . . it's got a massive and hugely valuable database that's been building up on public opinion on every topic, every day since 2009. And it has some marquee customers." 
The close ties between Canrock and the startups, such as General Sentiment, that it funds and helps to build aren't standard practice in the venture capital world, several experts said. 
"It's usually not the case that a venture capitalist will invest venture money in their own business," said Dennis J. Ceru, a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. "They lose their objectivity . . . So, one of the hallmarks of venture capitalists is not to get too close." 
<h3>DOLLARS FOR LOCAL TECH STARTUPS</h3> 
Canrock Ventures, a Brookville-based venture capital firm, has invested money from the state Innovate NY Fund into five technology startups. They are: 
General Sentiment Inc. (Brookville) 
-- Tracks public opinion on the Internet 
-- $500,000 Innovate NY investment 
-- Canrock managing director Mark Fasciano is co-founder and board chairman 
Karma411 (Brookville) 
-- Internet-based fundraising tool for charities and not-for-profit groups 
-- $500,000 Innovate NY investment 
-- Fasciano is co-founder and board chairman 
Sentiment Alpha Capital Management(Brookville) 
-- Hedge fund that uses Web analytics in making investments 
-- $425,000 Innovate NY investment 
-- Fasciano is co-founder and manager 
Thrive Metrics Inc. (Brookville) 
-- Internet tool for analyzing business email and other communications to improve customer service and financial results 
-- $400,000 Innovate NY investment 
-- Fasciano is co-founder and board chairman 
Vidaao Inc. (Manhattan) 
-- Internet tool for finding freelance videographers and managing video projects 
-- $50,000 Innovate NY investment 
-- Canrock managing director Jim Estill is an investor 
SOURCES: Company websites, Canrock Ventures, Empire State Development, SEC filings, Newsday research

BZFASC23

LI venture firm to be reviewed by feds

Mark Fasciano, president of Jericho-based Canrock Ventures, one of Long Island's leading venture capital firms, recently had a wide-ranging conversation with Newsday's business editors and reporters in the Melville office. 
 Fasciano said the Island needs a critical mass of startup companies to attract venture capital from across the country. These companies need working and living environments to attract &nbsp;the young workers that startups tend to employ. 
 He also discussed Long Island education in science, technology, engineering and math as well as the risks in finding "the next Facebook." 
 Most recently Fasciano joined forces with another venture capitalist David L. Calone of Jove Partners in Babylon and Neil Cohen, a private investor, to help create the Long Island Emerging Technology Fund, &nbsp;$1.25 million of fresh money for &nbsp;between 10 and 15 technology start-up companies. 
 Of the $1.25 million, $500,000 came in a grant from the state's Economic Development Corp., and $250,000 each came from the funds run by Fasciano, Calone and Cohen. 
 Photo: Mark Fasciano in his Jericho office earlier this year.

Video interview LI venture capitalist Mark Fasciano

Video: LI venture capitalist Mark Fasciano

Mark Fasciano cropped 6.7.12

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A family's heartbreaking choice: Aid in Dying law ... House hunting gets even harder ... Community members save referee ... Meet the LIers who caught Alonso's HR

A family's heartbreaking choice: Aid in Dying law ... Community members save referee... Meet the LIers who caught Alonso's HR

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