OnCore Buffalo Will Complement Downtown and Waterfront Development Projects

BUFFALO, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Rand Capital Corporation (Nasdaq: RAND) (“Rand” or “Rand Capital”), a business development company, announced that one of its portfolio companies, OnCore Golf Technology, Inc. plans to build a first-of-its-kind year-round sports entertainment complex, including a fully-integrated hotel in Buffalo, NY. The seven-acre OnCore Buffalo facility will bring exciting new golf and other sports experiences to downtown Buffalo’s waterfront when it opens in 2021. OnCore reports that it has the financing package in place with several local strategic and financial supporters for the estimated $30 million project.

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OnCore Buffalo will feature a unique three-tiered golf driving range with state-of-the-art radar and camera systems used in each hitting bay to deliver incredible gaming and learning possibilities for golfers and non-golfers alike. Each hitting bay will offer full shot analysis including both club and ball data (swing speed, ball speed, smash factor, distance, spin rate, spin angle, launch angle, apex, and much more) and will offer customers the option of recording their swing and receiving instructional advice in real time. All of the information will be saved and available to the customer for retrieval and review on mobile devices and on a cloud-based website. Instantaneous social media posting and sharing along with in-venue broadcasts will further enhance the user experience. Numerous games – some purely for entertainment and others for competition – will be available and shown on high resolution monitors in each bay.

“We’re very excited to be able to bring this kind of golf and sports entertainment experience to an urban setting – the result of engineering and technology innovations that have been years in the making,” said OnCore Golf co-founder Keith Blakely. “In doing so, we hope to elevate interest in golf amongst a broad demographic as well as to enable partnerships with other sports organizations who have similar goals. We envision other sports experiences, from virtual baseball, basketball and hockey to a possible indoor wave machine for surfing. We believe this planned complex sets a revolutionary standard that we can replicate in other urban areas.”

The first-of-its-kind OnCore Buffalo design is unique and different from other golf entertainment concepts, which typically require a physical presence twice the size of the OnCore Buffalo facility, making them hard to locate in urban environments. Additionally, The First Tee of Western New York, an international youth development organization that introduces the game of golf and its inherent values to young people, will relocate into the OnCore Buffalo facility at no cost to the organization. Through after school and in school programs, The First Tee helps shape the lives of young people from all walks of life by reinforcing values like integrity, respect and perseverance through the game of golf.

Allen F. (“Pete”) Grum, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rand Capital, added, “OnCore Golf has been at the forefront of golf ball technology advancement since its inception in 2011. This has been demonstrated by their development of several unique golf balls including the world’s only hollow metal core golf ball, a low compression ball with unrivaled distance called AVANT, and what many believe is the best premium tour ball, the ELIXR. The new golf and sports complex takes OnCore’s innovativeness to a new level. We are pleased to support them in their mission to grow the game of golf, creating a new experience for golfers of all skill levels. We are also pleased to support their efforts to further enhance the development of the beautiful Buffalo waterfront area.”

Rand began investing in OnCore Golf in 2014, having invested approximately $753,000 to date.

ABOUT ONCORE GOLF

With headquarters in Buffalo, NY, OnCore Golf is a cutting edge golf ball technology company with a big heart. The company has an entrepreneurial enthusiasm for everything that it does and its mission is to grow the game of golf, making it more fun for golfers of all skill levels by bringing the most innovative high performance golf balls on the market. OnCore Golf is also the first company to offer an entire suite of patented perimeter weighting golf ball designs. This has been done for years in drivers, irons and even putters. OnCore is the first to innovatively incorporate this into its golf ball designs. Read more at: https://www.oncoregolf.com/.

ABOUT RAND CAPITAL

Rand Capital (Nasdaq: RAND) is a Business Development Company (BDC) with a wholly-owned subsidiary licensed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC). Rand currently focuses its equity investments in early or expansion stage companies and generally lends to more mature companies. The Company seeks investment opportunities in businesses with strong leaders who are bringing to market new or unique products, technologies or services that have a high potential for growth. Additional information can be found at the Company’s website where it regularly posts information: http://www.randcapital.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning future net asset value growth, investment returns and opportunities as well as Rand’s plans for utilizing proceeds from sales of portfolio companies when and if received. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by such statements, including general economic and business conditions, conditions affecting the portfolio companies’ markets, competitor responses, and market acceptance of their products and services and other factors disclosed in the Corporation’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Consequently, such forward-looking statements should be regarded as the Corporation’s current plans, estimates and beliefs. The Corporation assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this release.

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Company:
Allen F. ("Pete") Grum
President and CEO
Phone: 716.853.0802
Email: pgrum@randcapital.com

Investors:
Deborah K. Pawlowski / Karen L. Howard
Kei Advisors LLC
Phone: 716.843.3908 / 716.843.3942
Email: dpawlowski@keiadvisors.com
khoward@keiadvisors.com

Source: Rand Capital Corporation

Released September 26, 2019