Evan Vitale Consulting: Nordic Consulting founder Bakken to start venture capital fund

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Nordic Consulting founder Bakken to start venture capital fund – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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By Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel

Nov. 12, 2014

Joe Koshollek

Mark Bakken

Mark Bakken, co-founder and chief executive of Nordic Consulting, one of the state’s fastest-growing start-ups, said Wednesday he is stepping aside to start an early-stage venture capital fund.

The fund will focus on health care information technology start-ups in Madison, a growing cluster for that city.

“Every week, I’m approached by bright, young entrepreneurs here who have great business ideas to help the health care industry deliver better care more cost-effectively,” Bakken said.

Both he and Nordic have committed money to the new fund, and Bakken said he will work with other local and national investors to attract additional partners. Bakken will also join the advisory board of Health Enterprise Partners LP, a New York-based growth equity firm focused on health care services and IT companies, he said. The firm is an investor in Nordic.

“Madison is gaining a national reputation as the place to start and build a high impact health care technology company and no one is more capable or better positioned to invest in those kind of companies than Mark Bakken,” said Joe Kirgues, co-founder of gener8tor, which runs start-up training programs in Milwaukee and Madison.

Nordic, which was founded in 2010, has 475 employees. The company works with more than 110 clients in 40 states. It is among the hundreds of consulting firms paying average salaries well into six figures that have sprung up across the nation to help hospitals and other health care providers install and operate Verona-based Epic Systems Corp.’s electronic medical records systems.

In September, Nordic was named 46th on Inc. magazine’s list of fastest-growing private companies. The company has revenue of $81.4 million, the magazine said.

A four-person senior executive council led by current president Drew Madden will run Nordic. Bakken will remain active with Nordic as chairman emeritus and as a “significant” shareholder, the company said.