What is the TNInvesto Program?
After recognizing a need to attract more seed and early-stage capital for Tennessee businesses and entrepreneurs, Governor Phil Bredesen and the Tennessee General Assembly worked to enact the Tennessee Small Business Investment Company Credit Act. The Act was signed into law offering $200 million in gross premium tax credits to a cross section of venture capital funds with broad experience in developing new companies in Tennessee.
The goals of TNInvestco are to develop Tennessee’s entrepreneurial infrastructure, bring additional capital into the state, diversify the state’s economy and create “anchors,” or “clusters,” of business innovation that result in the creation or spin off of new companies and the attraction of new talent to Tennessee.
For more information on the TNInvestco program, please visit their website at: www.tn.gov/ecd/small-business/tninvestco.html
What types of Companies should apply for funding from a Qualified TNInvestco?
The purpose of the TNInvestco Act is to encourage and support investments in qualified small businesses that have the potential to transform the State of Tennessee’s economy. Companies like FedEx and HCA were founded by entrepreneurs and eventually backed by venture capital investors. These companies have had a transformational impact on the state’s economy through the jobs, wealth and tax revenues made possible directly, or indirectly, by the efforts of the entrepreneurs that turned vision into reality and the investors that fueled their ambition.
In order to be considered a qualified business to be a recipient of TNInvestco funding, companies must meet the following criteria:
- The business must be headquartered and its principal business operations are located in Tennessee
- At least sixty percent of its employees are located in Tennessee
- It has not more than one hundred employees
- It is not principally engaged in:
- Professional services provided by accountants, doctors, or lawyers
- Banking or lending
- Oil and gas exploration
- Direct gambling activities
- It is not a franchise of and has no financial relationship with a TNInvestco or any affiliate of TNInvestco prior to a TNInvestco’s first qualified investment in the business.