Connecticut says it will spend $50 million a year over the next five years to promote in-state startups with high growth potential, as well as recruiting similar firms from outside the state to relocate here.
Connecticut Innovations Inc. announced the ambitious business-development program Wednesday, one it says aims to build jobs.
The $125 million in new funding from the state was included in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s jobs bill, which was signed into law in October, CI said.
CI says its plan is to match this state funding for each of the next five years with its existing cash and funding from its investment returns.
“CI’s capabilities are essential to the success of the technology sector in Connecticut,” Malloy said in a statement announcing the initiative. “Adding to their tool kit and providing more funding will allow the organization to accelerate its success in creating jobs and growing Connecticut’s economy.”
Included in the plan is:
• $4 million per year for CI’s pre-seed program, which offers loans to support the formation of new Connecticut technology companies.
• $22 million per year for seed stage and Series A investments, which help entrepreneurs grow existing businesses, and for follow-on investments in CI portfolio companies.
• $6.5 million per year for a newly developed loan program, which provides growth and working capital for technology companies.
• $7 million per year for the aggressive recruitment of emerging technology companies nationally and internationally. CI plans to work with the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and other state agencies to design a relocation incentive package, similar to the governor’s “First Five” initiative.
• $4 million per year to help Connecticut companies capture more of the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funds each year, as well as increase industry partnerships and the state’s technology talent pipeline.
•  $4.8 million per year to establish technology business accelerator hubs, which will provide support services to startups, and to create a corporate technology transfer initiative.
