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DEL.ICIO.USGeorgia Research Alliance OKs new venture fund
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Research Alliance, a public-private organization working to develop the state’s technological prowess, today agreed to launch a new fund to help finance promising new companies.
The GRA Venture Fund, which already has received a $7.5 million appropriation from the state legislature, will now seek private investors to meet the required 3-to-1 match. The goal is to raise $22.5 million by the end of the year from investors interested in supporting the development of technology in the state.
At the GRA meeting, several board members agreed to support the fund. Mike Adams, president of the University of Georgia, said his institution was willing to contribute $1 million to the effort.
Businessman Fred Cooper, who has been leading the effort to create the new fund, said he would give $500,000 and would seek other investors at that level. Jim Balloun, who helped establish the alliance 18 years ago, pledged to give $500,000. And developer Tom Cousins, who was an early chairman of GRA, pledged his support.
The GRA Venture Fund also has some other amenities for investors. The Georgia legislature also approved a 25 percent state income tax credit for private investors in the fund.
The fund will be invested primarily in start-up companies that have ownership, license or other rights to technology developed at Georgia’s six research institutions. The firms also would have had to have participated in GRA’s VentureLab commercialization program, which seeks promising new technologies that could have commercial appeal.
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