New York State Launches $50M Venture Capital Fund

New York State is launching a $50m early-stage venture capital fund.

Administered by Empire State Development (ESD) and managed by Managing Director Brian Keil, the New York State Innovation Venture Capital Fund will focus on backing tech companies making the transition from research to marketplace.

The fund, which will provide seed funding for the development of early-stage companies in high growth areas to create jobs and help launch, is expected to leverage at least $100 million in private capital to support high growth areas including advanced materials, clean technology, life sciences/biotechnology and information technology.

It will be comprised of two distinct segments:
– the Technology Commercialization Segment, which will facilitate the commercialization efforts of start-up companies associated with New York’s universities and make small pre-seed stage investments of up to $100k;
– the Seed and Early Stage Co-Investment Segment, which will invest directly in seed and/or early stage companies, with a focus on strategic industries such as information technology and life sciences/biotech, as well as relatively underserved areas of the state, with investments ranging from $100k to $5m. Empire State Development will review each and approve all of the Fund’s investments.

FinSMEs

16/12/2014