Ameris Bank contributes $250,000 of support to South Carolina business innovation
May 9, 2022
Ameris Bank announces a $250,000 contribution to the South Carolina Research Authority’s (SCRA) Industry Partnership Fund (IPF) to help promote innovation throughout the state. The contribution is tied for the largest by a bank in the history of the SCRA, surpassing the previous summit of $150,000 made by Ameris in 2021.
The SCRA is a public, nonprofit corporation chartered in 1983 that fuels South Carolina’s innovation economy. In 2006, it established the IPF to help sustain and grow the technology-based economy. The goal is to enable university research commercialization efforts by accelerating technology-enabled growth in research, academia, entrepreneurship and industry.
“South Carolina is fostering leaders and innovators across a variety of industries and we are humbled to play our part in facilitating their growth,” says Richard Sturm, Ameris Bank’s regional president for the Carolinas. “We support the SCRA’s mission to continue to move our state forward and impel economic advancement.”
In its annual report, the SCRA reported a $1.003 billion impact on the state’s innovation economy in the 2021 fiscal year and supported 5,429 South Carolina-based jobs. The organization awarded more than $4.6 million in grants and investments in 2021 to advance research, commercialize technology, expand product offerings and fund relocation costs. Examples of beneficiaries include Charleston-based Heartbeat Technologies, which is developing a CPR adjunct device to increase the survival rate of cardiac arrest patients as well as Greenville-based Victory Exofibres, a startup that produces viral particle isolation kits.
“The types of innovations being produced right now in our state are very exciting,” says SCRA Executive Director Bob Quinn. “Their impact ranges from revolutionizing health care delivery to transforming business operations to providing sustainable solutions for our environment. These innovations are being made possible by partners like Ameris Bank, who are investing in our state’s innovation economy, and receiving a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for doing so. These funds are used for our investments, grants, coaching and other services. Ameris Bank is a trusted partner for us.”
Ameris Bank operates nine full-service banking locations across South Carolina throughout the Midlands, Greenville, Charleston and Beaufort areas. Its commercial banking division offers a wide range of loans to support local businesses including acquisition, expansion, equipment and inventory loans, in addition to a comprehensive treasury and cash management services platform. Since expanding into the Palmetto State in 2006, Ameris has originated more than $2.5 billion in commercial loans to more than 2,300 businesses in South Carolina.
About Ameris Bank
Ameris Bancorp (Nasdaq: ABCB) is a financial services company committed to bringing financial peace of mind to its communities. Headquartered in Atlanta, it operates more than 200 financial centers across the Southeast and also serves consumer and business customers nationwide through select lending channels. Ameris Bank manages more than $23 billion in assets as of March 31, 2021 and provides a full range of traditional banking and lending products, treasury and cash management, wealth management, insurance premium financing, and mortgage and refinancing services. Learn more about Ameris Bank at www.amerisbank.com.
