Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana

A recent story from the Angel Capital Education Foundation shows that more than twenty states currently have tax credits for early stage investment–ranging from 10 to more than 50 percent.

Our primary focus is on companies based within a 500 mile radius of western Montana.

"With the changes that we made to the Insurance Reinvestment Tax Credit program, there will be a much-needed infusion of investment dollars into our state to support business formation and growth, as well as strengthen our high-tech work force," Gov. Rell said. "I expect that this program will be paying important economic dividends for years to come."

Joshua Schachter doesn’t like the idea of start-ups taking money from "a pile of angels" instead of a venture capitalist who’s built a syndicate to fund a company. "No one is leading," he says of the angels, "and so no one has responsibility when it’s time to raise money again."

"This is what the Montana Economic Development Summit was all about: bringing the right people together to create solutions to grow the economy and create good-paying jobs," said Baucus.

While early stage companies in their first year create as many as 3 million jobs nationally, they begin to shed jobs at a rapid rate after the first year, in large part due to a lack of funding for future growth.

To increase funding options for companies led by women, a new fellowship aims to train more women to become investors in startups

While Wisconsin has done well of late in nurturing angel capital investments, it still lags in another vital component of its innovation economy – building and attracting venture capital.

As described in an "investor memo," the fund is aimed at providing first and second-round financing to entrepreneur companies where "early exits" are emphasized.

Tax credits can indeed be extremely valuable to both angel investors and entrepreneurs by encouraging private capital to invest.