If Alabama isn't on the top of your list
of "venture ready" states, there's a group forming that aims to
prove you wrong.
The Technology Fund Management is
pulling together $25 million for a venture capital fund to create a
competitor to North Carolina's Research Triangle.
The fund is available for
technology-based companies that plan on staying in Alabama.
Investments are limited to $1 million per company. With the burst of
growth in businesses springing from the Alabama university system, The
Technology Fund Management Co. LLC expects to be doing booming business
with venture capital in Alabama very soon.
It is rare to see a fund that reaches
across business, government and education with the goal to economically
benefit an area. But Silicon Valley did it; the Research
Triangle did it; Austin did it. There is no reason in the world why
Birmingham, Alabama, can't do it.
This venture capital in Alabama incentive
is likely to bring Birmingham into the national spotlight. Known as
being a sleepy, Southern town, it may soon become a booming technology
corridor.
The commercialization of intellectual property coming out of research institutions is big business. One of the most common difficulties is getting funding to propel discoveries into companies. Often, venture capital dollars are all that is available for what many perceive as risky propositions.
Larry Greer, whose Greer Financial Advisors is managing the new fund, said having a venture fund of this magnitude is an element Birmingham has lacked as it attempts to spawn new companies.
"You can't ever have enough capital," Greer said. "We have the technology in abundance. Capital has always been the constraint here."
Venture capital in Alabama is now well on
its way. We wish them success.
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