Rockies Venture Club, Colorado BioScience Association partner to fund Colorado life sciences startups in new program backed by OEDIT
Tuesday January 28, 2020
DENVER -- Rockies Venture Club and Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) announced a partnership to mobilize Colorado’s capital resources to support early-stage bioscience companies in the state.
“Colorado has a world-class life sciences startup ecosystem, but early-stage startups have struggled to find the funding they need to innovate and grow,” said Peter Adams, Rockies Venture Club executive director.
“This program will mobilize capital within the state as well as through partnerships with investors throughout the U.S. There are over 65,000 accredited investors in the state and fewer than 1,000 of them are active angel investors.
“Our goal is to engage more of these investors through programs that teach angel investing and venture capital so that investors can achieve above market rate returns on a tax-free basis while creating jobs and innovation in the life sciences sector statewide.”
“Colorado will remain among the leading states in the country in areas such as job creation, gross domestic product growth, and housing-price increases,'' said Brian Lewandowski, associate director of the Leeds business research division.
“And much of its growth will continue to come in high-paying fields such as research and development, engineering and bioscience -- areas that lead to the creation of products made and sold by other sectors that help to sustain jobs there and generate economic activity.”
Colorado’s economic development agency, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) is providing a grant to RVC supporting the creation of an early stage angel/VC investing group to focus exclusively on life sciences investments which could include investments in companies that develop drugs, diagnostics, medical devices, and digital health software.
OEDIT also provides investor tax incentives through its Advanced Industries Tax Credit to the group to help reduce the risk of investing in early-stage companies.
The goal is to engage CBSA members and those from the healthcare and life sciences communities to invest in their own areas of expertise with a group of like-minded people along with the experienced venture capital process that Rockies Venture Club brings to the table.
“Attracting capital to Colorado life sciences companies and promoting growth at all stages of commercialization are top priorities for Colorado BioScience Association,” said Jennifer Jones Paton, CBSA president and CEO.
“We’re pleased to partner with Rockies Venture Club to create new investor pools and connect those investors to promising companies and organizations working on concepts for life-saving treatments, cures and solutions.”
Those interested in learning more about investing in Colorado’s life sciences startup ecosystem are invited to join an information briefing prior to the 8th Annual RVC/CBSA Colorado Life Sciences Night on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 4 p.m. at the Commons on Champa.
For registration and information, visit https://rockiesventureclub.wildapricot.org/event-3670971
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