Statewide startup investment fund may become reality

[TexasTowelie]

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A statewide startup investment fund in Missouri, first proposed last summer by an innovation task force appointed by Gov. Eric Greitens, may become reality.

St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce officials are in Jefferson City this week to lobby for the professionally managed fund, which would be the next generation of the Missouri Technology Corporation.

“We made a lot of advances in the last couple years,” Andrew Smith, the Chamber’s vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation, said. “We want to get this going so we don’t lose momentum.

“Moving away from the MTC, the key is to get this done quickly and not to have a gap.”

Investing in startup ventures would have the biggest economic impact with the most return — early stage investments have the biggest returns — but it does come with added risk.

Read more: https://themissouritimes.com/47419/statewide-startup-investment-fund-may-became-reality/

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Startups have been part of the game in St. Louis City MO for ...

quite some time and some have been quite successful...w/ so much money being cut from the state of Missouri budget in the last year or so under Greitens' first year, I question whether the state will be a viable long-term partner.

However, money is money, and perhaps a budding innovator can benefit.

However, I don't trust the ability of the state of MO to adequately evaluate the potential of all of those desiring funds, and to perhaps be awarded should an innovation (or innovations) be successful.

Smart governments can, but the state of MO is embarrassing overwhelming republican (in short what I'm saying is not just being republican is the problem, but being too one-sided is the problem), whereas the successful startups in St. Louis City was done w/o the state of MO's help for the most part (if any at all) and was done w/ multiple partners (business and local entities (and not just governments but quasi-governmental too)...don't stifle the process, but constructively enable and engage the innovators.

Good luck on this effort.

[TexasTowelie]

2. Unfortunately, the governor used the investment fund as a slush fund

for donors and his favorite causes. There were some multi-million grants to startups doing cancer research, but they went bankrupt while the vetting by the state wasn't thorough. Considering that many of the startups do go bankrupt, it will be interesting to see if the fund will be able to survive public scrutiny when things don't turn out as rosy as projected.

Like any other investment, they better be able to absorb the complete loss of both the principal and the expected ROI.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Absolutely good points