We need your help telling the story of the importance of MTC funding and how it’s impacted you/your programs.

Entrepreneurial growth has been proven to be a key component of community job growth and economic vitality. Local, state and federal governments benefit when rapidly growing companies create jobs and generate tax revenue. This makes early-stage companies, which typically generate job growth, of great interest to economic development agencies. Adequate funding at a company’s very early stages fuels entrepreneurial growth, but the market typically does not invest companies in the early stages, before they can be validated in the market. Therefore, governments will often provide incentives that encourage private investment or capacity-building grants to support programs that, in turn, support community businesses.

The Missouri Technology Corporation has taken the lead in supporting Missouri’s innovative startups and growth-oriented firms, providing early-stage capital to high-growth companies through direct loan and investment programs, support for innovation centers and grants to entrepreneurial support organizations. In recent years, the MTC budget has been cut dramatically, from a high of $23 million for FY2017 to the current level of $1 million. In addition to the critical and successful programs that MTC funds directly, MTC is the only statewide mechanism that can trigger the entire capital network for the state, driving additional dollars to companies in all parts of Missouri.

According to the 2018 annual report, since 2011 the MTC has co-invested in more than 120 companies that have leveraged state funds to raise $600 million in additional private capital. Since 2015, these companies have created almost 1,000 jobs. A study of MTC-funded companies compared to those who applied for IDEA funds but did not receive funding further illustrates the catalyzing nature of these investments. Those with MTC funding raised significantly more additional funding than those who did not receive MTC investments.