Bankers, business owners lobby for $60 million Montana investment fund

Larry Mikkola has tried for years to attract more investors to the small drug company he works for in Bozeman.

The problem? Too much competition from larger drug companies and not enough interest from capital investment firms in a "fly-over state" like Montana.

"We’ve been on the venture capital highway for the past couple of years, but we have not been able to bring any in," Mikkola, director of finance for LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, told the Senate Taxation Committee on Friday. "The need for capital in Montana cannot be overemphasized."

By SARAH COOKE
Associated Press

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/01/07/build/state/28-venture-capital.inc

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Bill could link big-money investors to local companies

By JARED MILLER
Tribune Capitol Bureau

HELENA — The Bozeman-based drug research and development company LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals has an enviable success story by Montana standards.

Using federal grants, the company blossomed in 11 years from a single employee and two tiny contracts to a staff of 46 and annual revenue of about $9 million.

Still, those numbers represent a fraction of what the company might have achieved had its creators been able to acquire more funding early on.

"If we had been able to secure $5 (million) to $10 million in public funds five years ago, we might have been a public company by now with 150 employees," LigoCyte finance director Larry Mikkola said during a hearing of the Senate Taxation Committee on Friday.

Sen. Jeff Mangan, D-Great Falls, is sponsoring a bill this session intended to give companies like LigoCyte access to those venture capital funds.

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050108/BUSINESS/501080334/1046