Experts Say Georgia is Leader in Start-Up Investing
Monday, July 29th, 2013
The recent crowdfunding and venture-capital funds established by the state make Georgia a leader in creating ways for investors to support start-up companies, according to a team of industry veterans.
The state has recently become the first to open the door to crowdfunding by small investors and also created a $100 million fund to invest state money in growing companies. That is on top of long-standing efforts to incubate and advise high-tech startups.
“As we investors look for deals ... states like Georgia who have been real visionary by putting a system together that provides not only the funding but that helps support those companies as they go from proof-of-concept and prototype-development phases of development through to commercial activities that are vital to a bio-pharma or bio-sciences type company (are attractive.) Georgia’s ahead of the curve,” said Bob Crutchfield, president of the Southeastern Medical Devise Association and an Alabama-based venture-capital fund executive.
Crutchfield participated in a panel discussion Tuesday night sponsored by the association and Georgia Bio, a trade group for the bio-medical industry.
