With many growing startups struggling to bridge the funding gap between seed money and late-stage venture capital, the technology and venture capital communities in Maryland are backing a proposed program that could fill the void. Approved by state lawmakers this spring, InvestMaryland will auction off tax credits to insurance companies to generate $100 million to invest with venture capital funds in state-based companies.
In this edition of Smith Business Close-Up with the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Elana Fine, director of venture investments at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, talks about the outlook for regional venture investments and what the Invest Maryland program will do for state companies.
Fine directs the Dingman Center’s Capital Access Network (CAN), a pipeline that connects startups from regional tech councils, incubators and state-funded institutions with a network of more than 40 active, accredited angel investors and venture capitalists for early-stage capital. The Center has been a hub of campus and regional entrepreneurial activity for 25 years. It also helps lead the University of Maryland’s Technology Transfer programs and provides MBA and undergraduate students at the Smith School with practical experiences and opportunities to pitch their business ideas, obtain feedback from experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence and access funding.
Smith Business Close-Up is co-produced by the Robert H. Smith School of Business and Maryland Public Television. The television segment focuses on the latest thinking in business management, and features in-depth interviews with Smith School faculty and other members of the school’s community of business leaders.
Where to Watch
Smith Business Close-Up can be seen bi-weekly on Maryland Public Television's Your Business and Money. The program airs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays and is repeated the following Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on public television stations throughout Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, including:
- WMPB-TV (Ch. 67), Baltimore
- WMPT-TV (Ch. 22), DC metro/Annapolis
- WCPB-TV (Ch. 28), Salisbury
- WFPT-TV (Ch. 62), Frederick
- WWPB-TV (Ch. 31), Hagerstown
- WGPT-TV (Ch. 36), Oakland
Media Contact
Greg Muraski
Media Relations Manager
301-405-5283
301-892-0973 Mobile
gmuraski@umd.edu
About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in business education and cutting-edge research. The school’s world-class faculty facilitate experiential learning opportunities rooted in the real world. Smith students learn to think like entrepreneurs, prepared to drive positive impact. The school offers undergraduate, online and on-campus business master's, full-time, part-time, online and executive MBA, plus PhD and DBA degree programs, and non-degree and executive education programs. Where Smith leads, the future follows.