Missouri Technology Corp Outlines 16 Actions to boost entrepreneurship and raise $100M
Having invested $75.7 Million, generating a $6.4 Billion economic output and $175.6 million in state and local taxes between fiscal years 2014 and 2021, MTC has made a significant impact on the startup economy. MTC’s report indicates that the state requires support to develop venture capital funds which targets a goal of having at least $100 Million pumped into angel, pre-seed and seed funds in the next decade with $25 Million targeted to “pilot innovation financing options” using revenue-based financing as an example.
Missouri Technology Corp has published a strategic plan to revive the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Missouri, giving the founders, programs, and initiatives the much-needed hope. The report titled “Catalyzing Innovation: Strategies for Missouri to Drive Innovation and Entrepreneurship” includes five key challenges faced by the Missouri entrepreneurship and innovation economy.
The five challenges describe:
- a drop in the venture capital deals,
- lack of access to support services and infrastructure for minorities and rural communities,
- less participation in entrepreneurship efforts that lead to challenges in sourcing employees,
- high “untapped potential” in higher education institutions
- combined with poor connectivity between state’s infrastructure and entrepreneurship community.
The report also suggests creating a new angel investment tax credit equivalent to a transferable income tax credit of 25% for investments in a Missouri Startup. These tax credits will be capped at $10 million tax credits per year up to a $100 Million over a decade.
The strategic plan includes 16 crucial recommendations:
1. To circulate investment capital funds across the capital stack
2. To incentivize angel investment
3. To evaluate the creation of Missouri Rural Vitality Funds to for entrepreneurial loans
4. To develop a statewide entrepreneurial pathways program
5. To foster regional efforts to provide quality support services to high-potential startups
6. To create partnerships between Missouri’s corporate partners, anchor institutions and startups
7. To reenergize the Research Alliance of Missouri to solve common innovation continuation challenges through collaboration with other state research institutes
8. To leverage the federal, I-corps program in order to provide startup services to encourage commercialization
9. To extensively support Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer awards to drive state-wide commercialization
10. To improve entrepreneurial programming for students in middle/high school and community colleges and universities
11. To fund internship programs connecting talent to startups
12. To offer state-wide entrepreneurial education
13. To enhance entrepreneurial storytelling capacity in Missourians
14. To improve connectivity between regions
15. To link Missouri’s innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem to the world through external marketing
16. To deploy broadband infrastructure across Missouri