— The head of WEDC wants the agency’s $50 million venture capital fund to have an impact outside of the state’s main startup hubs of Madison and Milwaukee.
Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes was the featured guest at yesterday’s WisPolitics.com luncheon in Madison. Among other topics, she discussed goals for the Wisconsin Investment Fund, supported by a grant from the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative.
“We’re really focused on making sure that that opportunity reaches to our rural areas,” she said. “It’s very easy to think about startups coming out of UW-Madison, or startups coming out of Milwaukee, but we want to be thinking about all of our different communities and what’s happening with entrepreneurs there.”
Since landing the initial seed funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the agency is looking to partner with other VC funds that will provide matching investment dollars to maximize the fund’s impact, Hughes said. Those partners will also help guide the WEDC fund’s investments. While it’s currently in the pre-launch stage, the fund aims to leverage more than 10 times the initial investment over the coming decade, the WEDC site shows.
Although Wisconsin has seen rising levels of venture capital investment in recent years, Hughes noted many companies seeking funding still look to other national hotspots for startup activity and end up leaving the state.
“And so we’re losing these companies to other places in the United States, whether it’s Austin or Boston, and we want to keep those businesses here,” she said, adding the Wisconsin Investment Fund is “all about investing in Wisconsin companies so they can stay and grow here.”
While the earlier $25 million Badger Fund of Funds was meant to provide support in the initial stages of startup development, Hughes noted the agency’s new fund is focused more on later stages when venture capital would typically step in. She said WEDC is having conversations with the managers of funds that got investments from that earlier effort as it develops its own plans.
Gov. Tony Evers in his latest budget proposed putting $75 million into a second fund of funds program, though the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has removed that provision as part of ongoing budget deliberations.
Hughes yesterday touched on some of the top challenges and opportunities facing Wisconsin businesses, noting the state’s workforce shortage is holding back manufacturers in particular. While these companies are seeing strong demand for products, “they can’t keep up with orders” because of difficulties with filling shifts, she said.
“It’s that lost opportunity that I guess worries me,” Hughes said. “And that we’re on the cusp of being able to take advantage of things like the new energy infrastructure, or taking risk to enter into a new market, and because of the challenges around workforce they maybe aren’t able to do that.”
Businesses will need to find ways to boost productivity through automation and other modernization efforts to take full advantage of those opportunities, she argued.
WEDC’s role is to help them strike the right balance between moving into new product areas — such as electric vehicle parts — and continuing to serve existing markets, Hughes explained. She added the agency’s tax credit programs can help reduce the risk of expanding into emerging markets.
When asked how to maximize the state-level impact of new federal dollars coming through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act, Hughes said Wisconsin will need to aggressively pursue funding from these programs.
“If we don’t … try to achieve that same effort of obtaining those federal dollars, we’re going to fall behind,” she said. “And so the key to those federal dollars is this real kind of private-led mindset that the federal government has taken with those.”
Hughes also touted the agency’s role in supporting local companies throughout the pandemic, pointing to a recent study showing Wisconsin had the second-highest rate of small business survival between 2010 and 2020. Only Iowa performed better.
She attributed that strength to “the tenacity of our small businesses” as well as the Small Business Development Center network, chambers of commerce throughout the state and “shop local” efforts at the community level.
Watch a video of the luncheon here: https://wiseye.org/2023/05/16/wispolitics-com-luncheon-with-wedc-ceo-missy-hughes/
See more on the Wisconsin Investment Fund: https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wisconsin-investment-fund/
— USDA Rural Development State Director Julie Lassa is calling on rural energy and utility providers in Wisconsin to apply for newly announced clean energy grants and loans.
Federal officials yesterday rolled out nearly $11 billion in new grant and loan opportunities aimed at supporting the shift toward more renewable energy, creating new jobs in this industry, reducing energy costs and fighting climate change.
In a USDA release, Lassa called the new funding a “historic opportunity” for applicants in the state.
“This is an exciting and transformative moment as the investments made through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will create new jobs and bring reliable and affordable clean energy to rural residents and businesses,” she said.
The Empowering Rural America Program will have $9.7 billion available for eligible rural electric cooperatives, supporting new renewable energy systems, zero-emission technologies and carbon capture, according to the release. Eligible groups must submit a letter of interest between July 31 and Aug. 31 to apply.
Meanwhile, the Powering Affordable Clean Energy program will provide $1 billion through partially forgivable loans to renewable energy developers and electric service providers including various utilities. The USDA says the PACE loans are up to 40 percent forgivable, with a maximum loan size of $100 million. Applicants can begin sending letters of interest from June 30 through Sept. 29.
These funds can be used for “large-scale solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower projects and energy storage” that supports renewable energy systems, the release shows. The PACE program is meant to support clean energy affordability for tribal communities and disadvantaged populations.
See more in the release: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/usda-biden-harris-administration-makes-historic-11-billion-investment-to-advance-clean-energy-across-rural-america/
— GOP lawmakers are circulating a bill to address PFAS contamination in the state, arguing Evers’ budget plans are “not well thought out.”
Green Bay Republican Sens. Eric Wimberger and Rob Cowles in a joint statement to WisPolitics said while Evers’ ideas gave them a lot to think about, they didn’t “provide enough accountability and transparency to earn our support.” They said their bill would incorporate elements of the guv’s proposal, but also tackle issues that go beyond what Evers has called for.
“We believe that allowing this legislation to stand on its own will ensure that we can gather feedback on specific items from stakeholders instead of burying substantive policy among the hundreds of pages of the state budget,” they said.
The Joint Finance Committee is set to vote tomorrow on whether to include the more than $106 million Evers has proposed to combat pollution from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. That includes $100 million for a municipal grant program to help local governments pay for PFAS testing and mitigation. Wimberger is a member of the committee.
The GOP bill proposes its own municipal grant program, but would also limit how the Department of Natural Resources regulates PFAS.
The proposal doesn’t specify how much money would be needed to pay for the provisions in the bill and the source for the funding. The guv can only use his partial veto authority on bills with a fiscal component.
Cowles’ office deferred to Wimberger for comment on how the provisions included in the bill would be funded. Wimberger did not immediately return a request for comment.
See more at WisPolitics.com: https://www.wispolitics.com/2023/tue-pm-update-kurtz-negotiations-over-referendum-component-in-shared-revenue-bill-ongoing
— Organizers of the Accelerate Sheboygan County Business Challenge are now taking applications for this year’s competition.
The contest is hosted by the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation and the Small Business Development Center at UW-Green Bay. It’s open to new and existing businesses, as well as entrepreneurs with a promising idea or invention.
In the contest’s initial phase, five applicants will each get a $1,000 grant to develop their business. In November, applicants will pitch to a crowd of business professionals and potential investors, competing for a $10,000 prize. This year’s winner will be announced in December.
Applications are being accepted through the end of October.
See the release: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/sheboygan-county-economic-development-corporation-the-accelerate-sheboygan-county-business-challenge-is-open-for-2023/
<br><b><i>Top headlines from the Health Care Report…</b></i>
— The health of Wisconsin seniors has been ranked 11th among U.S. states in the latest United Health Foundation report.
<i>For more of the most relevant news on COVID-19, reports on groundbreaking health research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com.</i>
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#TOP STORIES#
# A pro women’s soccer league has Madison in its expansion plans
# Wisconsin had the second-best 10-year small business survival rate over the last decade
# Green Bay area vacation rental listings see sharp spike, varied impacts
#TOPICS#
# AGRIBUSINESS
– Wisconsin farmland values surge amid limited supply, offering potential for further growth
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=497&yr=2023
– Local farmers given grants to fulfill local needs
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=496&yr=2023
# CONSTRUCTION
– Top bidders: The biggest recent winning bids around the state
– Breaking Ground: Sky High Marketing to build new HQ
# ECONOMY
– Milwaukee again moves up ‘Best Places to Live’ list as another Wisconsin metro ranks No. 1
– Green Bay named best place to live by U.S. News & World Report
# EDUCATION
– Wisconsin students missed nearly a month of school last year
# ENVIRONMENT
– Canadian wildfires cause hazy skies over Wisconsin
# LABOR
– Plumbers’ union showcases state-of-the-art apprentice training center, a cut above as state apprenticeships grow
# LEGAL
– Prosecutor pay raises added to Wisconsin budget proposal by lawmakers
# MANUFACTURING
– Long-running Milwaukee industrial lubricants firm sells to Amsoil
# REAL ESTATE
– Foxtown redevelopment turns Mequon lumberyard into event space
– Borgman Capital buys MGS Manufacturing’s Germantown HQ campus for $32.7 million
– Fox Cities homeowners in need of home repairs may find help from city programs
# SPORTS
– Madison to be home to Wisconsin’s first professional women’s soccer team
– Madison to host first women’s pro soccer team in Wisconsin
– Madison to get top-tier professional women’s soccer team in new league
# TRANSPORTATION
– Dane County Regional Airport invites new passengers with southern terminal expansion project, enhances employee and military infrastructure
# PRESS RELEASES
<i>See these and other press releases:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/press-releases/ </i>
Wisconsin DATCP: Continues fee holiday for Agricultural Chemical Cleanup Program fund
