Venture Capital Program

Venture Capital Program

MTC is currently accepting applications for all of our IDEA Fund Co-Investment Programs. Applications can be accessed using the link below.

IDEA Fund Application

MTC’s Venture Capital Program was created to accelerate private venture capital investment in Missouri-based start-up companies and to increase the overall investment impact of third-party investments. The Venture Capital Program supports technology startups through matching equity or convertible debt investments up to $2,000,000 for the purpose of scaling the business to attract additional venture capital.

Over the past decade, MTC has invested over $47 million in over 145 early-stage Missouri-based high-growth technology-focused companies, which have raised over $1.3 billion in additional private capital. To gauge the overall economic development and impact its portfolio has on the state, MTC surveyed over 70 companies in its portfolio. The economic development impact results of the survey have been summarized in a downloadable PDF flier that can be accessed with the link below.

IDEA Fund Survey Summary

Investment Process:

  1. The application process opens, and applicants are invited to fill out the application (link below).
  2. MTC staff reviews all applications received on a quarterly basis.
  3. Applicants are notified whether they are invited to present to the MTC investment Committee approximately one (1) month after applications close. Those who are not selected to move forward are welcome to set up a time to discuss their application with the MTC staff.
  4. The MTC Investment Committee meets and following presentations by the selected applicants, the Investment Committee will make funding recommendations to MTC’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
  5. The MTC Board of Directors will meet to review and approve the recommendations.
  6. When a company awarded an investment allocation has raised the required matching funds, MTC will initiate its due diligence.

In order to qualify for a Venture Capital Program investment, a company must:

  1. Be based in Missouri;
  2. Have a proprietary or protectable intellectual property;
  3. Be in the pre-seed financing stage;
  4. Have, at the time of closing, an actual third party dollar-for-dollar matching investment for MTC funds;
  5. Fit into at least one of MTC’s five focus areas – animal health, plant science, biomedical science, applied engineering (software), and defense and homeland security;
  6. At the time of application, have identified a potential lead investor which has domain expertise in the applicable industry sector of the applicant and/or has performed a significate level of due diligence in the discretion of the MTC; and
  7. Complete the application process.

Application Materials
IDEA Fund Application FY24 – Google Form
IDEA Fund Application FY24 – PDF
     Note:  PDF – only for review.  Must apply via Google Form.
MTC IDEA Fund FAQs

Additional Materials
As a state-sponsored venture capital program, MTC requires every company to enter into a Participation Agreement prior to closing its investment.

Note: Google Forms does not allow applications to be saved and completed later. Therefore, we strongly suggest companies use the PDF Copy of the IDEA Fund Application to complete the application questions in advance and then copy and paste them into Google Forms when the company is ready to submit its application.

Contact for Questions
Please email Julia Campbell.