Dear Friends,
In the last five years,
the number of investments in Wisconsin's start-ups has almost doubled.
A new report from the Wisconsin Technology Council shows start-ups raised
$276.2 million in 2016, up 31 percent from the year before. I'm very excited at the progress our state is making and I'm excited a bill I authored is starting to help entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground.
In 2013, I authored legislation to create the Badger Fund of Funds to invest in Wisconsin start-ups and keep our state competitive.
At the time, entrepreneurs were struggling getting their ideas into the marketplace. The Badger Fund of Funds is a Limited Partnership formed by the state of Wisconsin to invest in Wisconsin venture capital funds that will in turn invest in Wisconsin based new ventures.
So far, there are seven new funds in our state:
the Idea Fund of La Crosse, Bascom Ventures, the Winnebago Seed Fund, Rock River Capital Partners, 30Ventures, NM Future Ventures, and CMFG Ventures. While still in the early stages, the early reports are very good.
One venture capital fund manager said, "
My phone has not stopped ringing from entrepreneurs across the state." I'm thrilled to see this investment is making a difference.
As always, if you have any ideas on how to improve our great state, including how to improve the budget, please do not hesitate to contact me at
[email protected] or 608-266-5830.
On Wisconsin!
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