Quatere
Location |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
|---|---|
Project Name | Next Generation Early Stage Umbrella Fund |
Program | Seed Fund Support Grant (formerly known as Cluster Grants for Seed Capital Funds) |
Award Amount | $250,000 |
Matching Amount | $378,800 |
Quatere will create and implement an innovative next generation early stage umbrella fund to inject much needed sustainable funding options for early stage and startup companies in the Intermountain region and beyond. The fund is expected to result in new job creation and increase the availability of capital and technical assistance to early stage companies in the region.
Many of the best young entrepreneurs in Utah and in the Intermountain region experience a cultural barrier to obtaining funding as angel networks hesitate to invest in young entrepreneurs. Based on our anecdotal observations, Utah continues to lose some of the best human capital and companies to the main innovation centers. To retain its key talent and foster the growth of high growth companies it needs to create a capital markets structure capable of funding the key talent through the point that they become bankable, convertible, debt-able, or loanable.
The fund structure will provide strong returns; meet CRA, SBA, and other economic development objectives; have strong alignment among stakeholders; and address the market dynamics of startups getting farther with smaller amounts of capital. Quatere intends to create a seed fund model that can successfully be implemented in other similar markets, and intends to publish freely-available best practices.