18 states reject Wisconsin’s venture capital program
By BRUCE MURPHY bmurphy@journalsentinel.com, Journal Sentinel
Saturday, November 29, 2003
Wisconsin’s venture capital program, which funnels state subsidies to a short list of certified capital companies (CAPCOs), was rejected by 18 states, according to a study done for the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds.
States that have passed such legislation include Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, New York and Colorado, which have allocated a combined $1.4 billion for their programs. Typically, the same three companies get the funding: Advantage Capital, Banc One’s Stonehenge Capital and The Wilshire Group. The headquarters of those firms, respectively, are in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, La., and New York City.
Those three CAPCOs previously were also the recipients of Wisconsin’s funding. Under the revised CAPCO bill, however, those companies are not guaranteed future funding, said state Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield), who sponsored the legislation. After a competitive process, he said, the Department of Commerce would pick two to four firms.
Studies funded by the CAPCO industry have praised the program, but the study for the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds called it an expensive program that gives investment fund managers “10 times the return” that unsubsidized companies gain in the marketplace.
Bob Lee, head of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development, said “this state would be hard-pressed to design a program that cost the taxpayers more and delivered less” than the CAPCO legislation. In Florida, the Department of Financial Services’ chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher, called it a “terrible public policy.”
