In July 2009, the State budget cut support for the 21st Century Fund in half from $70M to $35M over a two year period.

As a State, we pride ourselves on “big economic growth” and “job creation”, yet we cutback 50% of funding in an organization that has been providing financial support to Hoosier innovators since 1999 and directly impacts economic growth and job creation.

So, where are Hoosier Entrepreneurs supposed to go for funding resources? Other grants? Sure, there are some grant resources, like the SBIR, but those are federal dollars and a small percentage of companies actually get SBIR dollars.

If we want to see more dollars come into Indiana, we will have to look to Venture Capitalists:

• 11% of jobs in the private sector were Venture-backed in 2008
• 21% of US GDP came from Venture-backed companies in 2008

Check out last week’s post on funding for small start-ups – “Funding Challenges for Entrepreneurs“.