FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September, 2008
Contact: Rob Monsees
(573) 526-0470
JEFFERSON CITY—The Missouri Technology Corporation announced today it awarded three small high-tech companies Phase II Bridge Loans through the Missouri Technology Incentive Program (MoTIP).
MoTIP is designed to generate high-quality Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer proposals and broaden the participation of Missouri small business. The Missouri Technology Corporation in partnership with the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers have developed a program for high-technology small business interested in pursuing federal research
“High tech jobs are our future, and entrepreneurs often times lack funding at critical junctures during the development of technology,” said Rob Monsees, Executive Director for the Missouri Technology Corporation. “The MoTIP program was developed to lessen those gaps for small businesses and help maintain momentum in the business. The end result will be more successful start up companies and more
high tech jobs for Missourians.”
The biggest gap facing entrepreneurs typically occurs between the completion of the Phase I work and the start of the Phase II project, usually 3-4 months. The Phase I/II Bridge Loan program allows an entrepreneur to request up to a $50,000 loan to support research activities. The Bridge Loan funding is forgiven only if the Phase II proposal is not successful with the federal agency. If the proposal is funded, the Bridge Loan must be repaid to MoTIP.
“Our goal with this funding is truly to help the entrepreneur bridge the funding gap that often occurs in the middle of the commercialization process," said Paul Rehrig, counselor at the University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Columbia. “The repayment of the loan ensures additional funding for future loans and in essence is double return on investment."
The following Missouri high-tech small businesses have been awarded a Phase II Bridge Loan from the Missouri Technology Incentive Program developed by the Missouri Technology Corporation:
• Cervimark was founded in 2004 and is a medical diagnostics company that is developing a screening test for the prediction of pregnancies at high risk for preterm delivery.
• VirRx is a biotechnology company founded in 1999 and its primary mission is to design, construct novel drugs to treat many different forms of human cancer. They have taken a common cold virus, named adenovirus, and changed some of its genes such that it will attack and destroy cancer tumors without harming normal tissues in the body.
• Iconic Health was founded in 2005 and its primary mission is to improve access, quality and efficiency of mental health care.
The Missouri Technology Corporation was created by the Missouri General Assembly in 1994 and is charged by law with being a focal point for leading the state’s efforts in technology based economic development and for enhancing the system for transferring new discoveries into the marketplace in order to create companies and high tech jobs for Missourians. MTC received $15 million from Governor Blunt’s Lewis & Clark Discovery Initiative, the largest investment in technology based economic development in our state’s history.
###