CAPCO Programs

Advantage Capital Partners has selected Ironwood Capital to identify potential companies for investments:

Connecticut has chosen a Missouri-based equity and venture capital firm to manage a $72 million investment pool aimed at growing small businesses.

The new funds come out of a provision in the recently passed jobs bill, which revised the state’s Insurance Reinvestment Tax Credit program to allow money managers to invest in any Connecticut-based business, not only insurance-related ones.

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Companies that took advantage of the Capital Tax Credit Program agree that the Louisiana CAPCO Program should be re-instated:

When business leaders gathered Monday to announce the creation of a venture capital fund to help entrepreneurs at the very earliest stages of business development, they took a small step toward filling a funding gap that has persisted in New Orleans and Louisiana for decades.

‘We’ve gone from being like Estonia to people saying maybe this is the next major hot spot,’ said Matthew Wisdom, who founded the technology company TurboSquid in 2000.

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Through the Texas CAPCO Program, Advantage Capital Partners is providing $3.3 million to Hospice Partners, which will help retain jobs and encourage additional growth:

Advantage Capital Partners, a leading venture capital and small business finance firm, has provided $3.3 million in financing to Hospice Partners of Texas. The funding, raised in connection with the Texas Certified Capital Company (CAPCO) program, will allow the company to expand through the acquisition of Alamo Hospice, maintaining 70 full-time staff and a dozen part-time staff in the San Antonio region. Further growth is expected in the coming months, as Hospice Partners intends to expand Alamo Hospice and create additional jobs.

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EnviRelation will be expanding its business with the $100,000 investment it was awarded from winning the DC Business Plan Competition:

EnviRelation, a District-based environmentally sustainable food composter and winner of the 2010 Washington, DC Business Plan Competition, today secured an investment of $50,000 from Advantage Capital Partners and $50,000 from Enhanced Capital Partners via the District’s CAPCO Program. These funds will be used to expand this young business and position it for future growth.

“We appreciate the recognition and support that this investment brings to our innovative company. This exciting opportunity to grow our business would not have occurred but for the Washington, DC Business Plan Competition and the District’s small business investment tax credit program, known as CAPCO,” said Walker Lunn, Founder and CEO of EnviRelation. Lunn continued, “Working capital from commercial banks is not readily accessible for small but fast-growing companies like ours, and the District is fortunate to have a CAPCO program that it is specifically designed to provide access to capital to District-based businesses in need of funds to grow.”

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SOMS Technologies has worked with Advantage Capital Partners for two years through the state’s CAPCO program:

The second quarter was a quiet one for venture capital finance in Westchester, with only several companies reported as tapping into $4.58 million in funding.

More than half of it, $2.65 million, was raised by a single company – SOMS Technologies L.L.C. of Valhalla, according to the quarterly MoneyTree Report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, using data from ThomsonReuters.

SOMS Technologies raised the $2.65 million in a Series A venture round co-led by Advantage Capital Partners and Rand Capital Corp., with several individual investors.

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Wisconsin’s CAPCO program has been one of the many ideas for economic growth within the state:

The Wisconsin Technology Council will publish a new set of white papers this month including bold ideas to stimulate venture capital investment in the state.

Inevitably, some may question Wisconsin’s ability to afford these proposed programs. But the better question is whether we can afford not to pursue new ideas as we try to transform the economy.

We have no shortage of innovations. We have one of the world’s greatest research universities, one that became increasingly entrepreneurial in the 1990s. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation began accepting equity in lieu of upfront fees for University of Wisconsin-Madison spinoffs at that time and began investing directly near the end of the decade. Initiatives such as the Burrill Business Plan Competition helped to create a more entrepreneurial culture.

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Wisconsin’s CAPCO program expired in 2009, but it provided excellent job growth:

A program that used state tax credits to invest in promising Wisconsin technology businesses has paid for itself several times over, according to a study by Donald Nichols, UW-Madison emeritus professor of economics and public affairs.

TomoTherapy, Virent Energy Systems, Alfalight and Cellectar are among the Madison companies boosted by the program, called Wisconsin Certified Capital Companies, or CAPCOs.

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The Midwest Technology Journal published an article discussing the benefits of the Missouri Certified Capital Companies (CAPCO) program:

Given the tremendous importance of small business to the Missouri economy – 95 percent of all companies and 35 percent of all jobs – it is remarkable that so few of the state-sponsored programs designed to stimulate economic growth are directed at assisting smaller firms. In Missouri, for example, only four of the 21 tax incentive programs designed to encourage investment and job growth are directed primarily at small business. This lack of support is even more inexplicable given the dynamic potential of small emerging businesses and the special problems that are unique to these firms – in particular, a lack of specialized managerial expertise and access to external sources of funding.

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Through the Texas CAPCO program, Advantage Capital Partners has again invested in a local small business:

Advantage Capital Partners, a leading venture capital and small business finance firm, has provided $2.1 million in financing to Healthcare Plus Supplies, Inc., a newly formed durable medical equipment (DME) supplier that will provide quality products and services to local hospices and their patients. The funding, raised in connection with the Texas Certified Capital Company (CAPCO) program, will allow the company to create 17 jobs in the Dallas area and purchase the necessary equipment to proceed with expansion plans. Further growth is expected in the coming months, with the addition of two warehouses in Terrell and Greenville.

“The DME industry has been growing at a rapid pace, and Advantage Capital is pleased to be involved in this emerging sector as an investment partner to Healthcare Plus Supplies,” said Les Alexander, senior vice president at Advantage Capital. “This Texas CAPCO program funding will create immediate jobs in Dallas, with more growth expected as the company expands.”

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On April 6th, Advantage Capital Partners and Enhanced Capital Partners hosted the Business Plan Competition kick-off event in DC:

The Office of the Deputy Mayor and the Washington, DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP) in collaboration with Advantage Capital Partners and Enhanced Capital Partners will kick off its $100,000 Business Plan Competition on April 6 from 6:00-8:00pm at the Washington, DC Economic Partnership’s office located at 1495 F Street, NW.

In its second year, this competition will award $100,000 of investment capital through the District’s Certified Capital Companies (“CAPCO”) Programto one winner.  In addition to the investment capital, the winner will also receive $10,000 worth of legal consultation from Venable LLP. 

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