Medical Center of the Americas Foundation
MCA Innovation Fund
El Paso, TX
Seed Fund Support
Federal Share: $300,000.00
Local Match: $300,000.00
The Medical Center for the American Foundation (MCA) will launch the MCA Innovation Fund to increase startup success through developing early stage access to capital. This will create impact with the growth of new companies, living wage jobs, and technology-based industry development. In El Paso, a critical need exists for early stage capital that will assist startups with a potential for high impact to advance to the next growth stage. El Paso innovators and entrepreneurs, who primarily come from modest backgrounds, struggle to find this capital locally, not only making it harder for them to thrive but also drawing them out of the region to areas with a more robust capital infrastructure. Through the planning, formation, and launch of a seed fund, the MCA project will improve access to early-stage capital for companies, educate and recruit potential investors, and provide for a qualified fund manager to oversee fund operations and serve as an expert resource. The fund will additionally evaluate potential for equity-based investments in regional companies and create early-stage deal flow that deliberately grows the region’s economic base.