SCRA Presents SC Launch Program, Meets with Angel Investors at Angel Capital Association Southeast Regional Meeting in Greenville
October 20, 2010
GREENVILLE, SC – October 20, 2010 – SCRA will present its SC Launch Program and meet with over 25 angel investment groups visiting Greenville during the final day of the 2010 Southeast Region Angel Capital Association (ACA) Meeting on Thursday, October 21st.
Recently recognized global by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the SC Launch program has also been listed as one of the top five entrepreneurial programs in the country by Forbes magazine, and noted for accomplishments by the Southern Growth Policies Board and The State Science &Technology Institute in 2008 and 2009.
SC Launch is working to facilitate knowledge-based economic development in South Carolina. The program has continued to assist, help form and/or land more than 230 knowledge-based entities in South Carolina since its inception in 2006, providing both funding and services to more than 180. The program has attracted more than $104M in add-on, private equity investment in South Carolina companies in this four-year period, a figure that rose from $71M the previous fiscal year.
“While the SC Launch program has made significant impacts for South Carolina, there is still abundant need and demand for further support of emerging technology-based companies in the state,” stated SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney. “Available follow-on funding of angel and venture capital is essential to the future success of these start-up companies.”
The conference, hosted by the Upstate Carolina Angel Network (UCAN), began October 19th and is an opportunity to increase funding sources for top start-up businesses and new high paying jobs for area residents. South Carolina has traditionally lagged behind the region and country in attracting early-stage financing such as venture capital investments.
According to a recent Kauffman Foundation study, all net new jobs in the U.S. since 1980 were created by start-up companies. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that small businesses account for 50 percent of the country’s private nonfarm gross national product, create between 60 and 80 percent of the net new jobs, and are 13 to 14 times more innovative per employee than large firms.
Added Mahoney, “As a program, SC Launch continues to cultivate promising start-up companies as fast and as effectively as possible. UCAN and other angel organizations are vital to the continued economic growth of these emerging companies, and these small, start-up companies are already having an early but significant impact on our state’s economy. We are honored to be a part of this important event and to recognize UCAN for their important partnership in the advancement of South Carolina’s Knowledge Economy.”
About UCAN
UCAN, a group of over 50 accredited investors located in Upstate South Carolina, invests in and supports start-up and early-stage, high-growth businesses in the Southeastern United States. Since 2008, the group has invested $3.2 million in 12 companies, including 8 South Carolina companies and 4 companies in Georgia and North Carolina.
About SCRA
SCRA is a global leader in applied research and commercialization services with its headquarters in South Carolina. SCRA collaborates to advance technology, providing knowledge-based solutions with assured outcomes to industry and government, with the help of research universities in SC, the US and around the world.
