Venture capital flows back into Missouri

St. Charles County Business Record, October, 2007 by Kathleen T Brady

When Senate Bill 1 was signed into law in September, little was said about the millions of dollars in venture capital that would flow into the state as a result of the bill.

SB 1 opened up the state to $190 million in possible venture capital, said Scott Zajac, senior managing director of Advantage Capital Partners in St. Louis.

The New Markets Tax Credit provision of SB 1 matches a federal New Markets Tax Credit program that entices venture capital firms to invest in new businesses that are based in economically distressed areas.

Prior to SB 1, nearby states were already matching the federal New Markets Tax Credit program, said Zajac. "We were finding ourselves having to invest outside of Missouri because that's where the incentives were," he said. "When...