Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana

"Being able to get actual college credit for going through an incubator program was really important," Jameson said. "I didn’t have to make a compromise."

The purpose is to create a dialogue with business leaders, economic development organizations, business incubators, and community leaders to promote investment in Montana and support businesses as they start up and/or grow their existing operations.

Investors are starting to see gold in the Treasure State’s hot tech scene, and Missoula is playing an ever-increasing role.

If you really want to get venture capitalists to invest in the Midwest, it will take more than a three-day trip. But, how else do you get venture capitalists to give Midwest investments a chance?

On the local front, we are meeting with dozens of Montana-based technology companies and providing advice and support to help them accelerate their growth path.

Montana has fallen behind other states in the region in its support for technology startups, though one group of angel investors is looking to grow its network in hopes of influencing state policy to close the gap.

For the past several months, there has been a torrent of press around how Mr. Case and Mr. Vance have teamed to try to revive entrepreneurship in what elites often derisively refer to as the so-called flyover states.

The group’s investment focus will be on technology-based companies, from traditional software ventures to biotech and the energy sector.

"Montana was this great entrepreneurial state that for some reason didn’t attract any capital," said Price. "I think the reason it didn’t had nothing to do with the quality of the entrepreneurs or the people who are here. It just wasn’t on the radar. But Montana is now being accepted as a credible place to start a business, largely due to its entrepreneurs."

As talk of national tax reform efforts heat up at the federal level, the fate of a federal tax credit program that has played a crucial role in several large economic development projects in Missoula is up in the air.