Fund of Funds thriving

LEHI — The Utah Fund of Funds program is still in its infancy, but already it's a prodigy.

Fund officials and venture capital firm representatives on Thursday hailed the program for boosting capital investment in Utah companies ever since the Legislature passed the fund-creation bill in 2003 and the program launched last year.

The Utah Fund of Funds, backed by $100 million in tax credits, is designed to provide access to alternative or nontraditional capital to Utah entrepreneurs. The program does not invest money into any company or individual but rather in venture capital and private equity funds that commit to establishing a working relationship with the Utah Fund of Funds and Utah's start-up and business community, and commit to making investments in qualifying companies. The Utah Fund of Funds invests in venture capital and private equity funds located in-state and out of state.

The current portfolio of funds has invested in 23 Utah companies that employ 974 people with an average salary of $62,000, Jeremy Neilson, managing director of the Utah Fund of Funds program, told a crowd of more than 200 people Thursday at Thanksgiving Point.

Those 974 jobs are expected to contribute $75 million in tax revenue to Utah over 10 years. The 23 companies have received $293 million from their investors, including $50 million from the Utah Fund of Funds portfolio.

"Basically, as we have $100 million at work, we sure want to see that $100 million come back in Utah companies," Neilson said. "And we're already 50 percent there, and we've been doing this about a year and a half, so we've already had some great successes."

Speaking at the annual joint meeting of the MountainWest Capital Network, the Utah Technology Council, the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum and the Wayne Brown Institute, Neilson said the Fund of Funds has committed $69 million of the tax credits to 15 venture funds. Among the results are more than 900 days commitment by non-Utah funds to spend with local entrepreneurs. Participating funds include six Utah funds, including three new ones, plus six from California, two from the New York/Boston area and one from Idaho.

And Neilson showed statistics indicating Utah is outpacing similar programs in other states. Oklahoma's, for example, has been in place 12 years and has resulted in investments in 19 local companies, he said.

"I think it is really just a great credit to Utah and the great companies that we have such that, the theory behind the Utah Fund of Funds was that we just needed capital influx into Utah, and it turned out to be more of a fact than a theory," Neilson said.

It has worked so well that Neilson said he and others will push for the Legislature to bump up the tax credit level to $300 million.