When Bill Adamowski and Steve Adamson set out to launch MortgageHub Inc., they discovered firsthand how the prospects of raising venture capital are even tougher when you’re doing it in Greater Des Moines.

It’s one of the reasons the two technology entrepreneurs, who in the past five years formed three successful technology companies, have now created a fourth: Blue Ocean Ventures, a seed capital/technology incubator for Central Iowa start-up companies.

Named after the industry slang expression for “uncontested market space,” Blue Ocean will assist local entrepreneurs in bringing a product to market and attracting the attention of West and East coast venture capital firms to find second rounds of financing.

“We saw a lack not only in terms of the money aspect, but also in helping entrepreneurs become successful,” said Adamowski, whose 25 years of technology experience has included stints as chief technology officer with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and chief information officer for GMAC Mortgage. “We don’t want to be just money players; we also want to help entrepreneurs become successful.”

Blue Ocean will work in tandem with Praxis Technology Group, a technology consulting company that Adamowski and Adamson formed three years ago in Clive. The relationship will give the new firm access to the resources of a technology company, and provide Praxis with a venture capital arm.

Adamowski said Blue Ocean will operate a local incubator to provide office and administrative support, serving a role similar to that of the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship plays for research-oriented companies in Ames, but with a location better suited for Greater Des Moines-based companies.

By forming a local network of investors, most of them 40 or younger, one of Blue Ocean’s goals is “to become the next generation of market players in information technology,” he said. The company plans to add its own money to deals that might require between $50,000 and $500,000 in seed capital, and provide exposure to venture capital firms as well.

Adamson was Wells Fargo Home Mortgage’s information technology development manager before he and Adamowski left the company to launch MortgageHub, a Web-based company that specializes in software that links mortgage brokers and banks. The two also co-founded speechvantage, a collaboration with General Motors Acceptance Corp. and Microsoft Corp. that developed a speech-recognition software program used with applications such as Microsoft Outlook. Both companies are based in the Philadelphia area.

“During that same time, we created Praxis, which specializes in strategic technology consulting and technology resources,” Adamowski said. The Clive-based company, which in December opened sales offices in Minneapolis.and Kansas City, primarily serves the financial services sector, with clients that include Wells Fargo, Principal Financial Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and ARAG Group. Profitable after just three years of operation, Praxis has 50 employees locally and plans to add another 50 this year.

“Really, what Blue Ocean Ventures is doing is feeding off of Praxis, in that Praxis is seeing customer problems that are similar between clients, and those become market opportunities,” Adamowski said. “Blue Ocean Ventures is looking at creating companies that can fill those gaps.”

Blue Ocean also wants to connect those companies with local talent to lead them.

“We want to find people who wanted to become entrepreneurs,” Adamson said, “but didn’t want to take the risk because they have families. We’ll identify market niches, call them, provide them a salary and a safety net, but give them the ability to have a much higher risk profile.”

Another niche for Blue Ocean will be assisting start-up companies that are looking for expertise to get their products to market. For instance, it recently invested in POPStar Networks Inc., an Urbandale company that specializes in dynamic display networks for point-of-purchase advertising.

The venture firm will also work with corporate clients that are considering spinning off innovative concepts into new businesses. A current Praxis client, U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. of Chattanooga, the nation’s fifth-largest trucking company, is an example of the type of company that Blue Ocean hopes to partner with to provide spin-off opportunities for investors.

“We’d love to have some Des Moines (investor) participants in that,” Adamowski said.

“Our vision five years out is to see a thriving entrepeneurial start-up community in Des Moines,” he said. “We’ve got great financial services companies here; how do we leverage that?”

For more information about Blue Ocean Ventures, call Adamowski at Praxis Technology Group, 327-5590, or visit www.blueoceanventures.com.