A new initiative in Washington is expected to result in new biotech jobs.
Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and the Washington State Department of Commerce have announced that help is on the way for the state’s small businesses seeking new sources of financing to grow and create jobs. Commerce was recently awarded $19.7 million from the U.S. Department of Treasury to launch the Washington Small Business Credit Initiative – three new programmes designed to spur investment and lending to businesses throughout the state.
One of these programmes is W Fund ($5 million) projected to be a $25+ million venture fund organised to invest in early-stage technology, life science and information technology companies emerging from University of Washington and other leading science research centers across Washington State.
Fund recipients will be headquartered in Washington State, creating jobs and economic opportunity in key growth sectors.
“We believe that the W Fund will fuel critical mass in key sectors such as life science, and strategic nascent sectors for WA such as Clean Tech, capitalising on the most promising new inventions developed at the University of Washington and research institutions across the state,” said Linden Rhoads, Vice Provost, Commercialisation, University of Washington.
Rhoads added, “This is a great example of the state, and Department of Commerce being really sophisticated in their use of federal stimulus money to leverage private investment dollars to insure that there is sufficient earliest stage capital in the local economy.”
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