Braun Administration Freezes Funds For Elevate Ventures
Braun Administration Freezes Funds For Elevate Ventures. We should want Indiana to grow, but is funding these organizations something we should be doing as a state?
We discussed this the other day that there was this reporting over there at Hannah News Service. That stated that Elevate ventures, if we don’t understand what we’re dealing with here is that we have the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and there’s a question of whether or not they provide any value whatsoever in a really attracting business. Do you need this organization to do that to bring business to the state of Indiana, then you have Elevate Ventures, which takes loans from the state of Indiana, our tax dollars and then invests in companies, startups and things that can grow here. Well, instead of returning the money first, they charge a larger than normal fee for managing the money. And then they created a fund called the Growth Fund, because I guess the human fund was already taken. Took a Costanza joke, ladies and gentlemen:
And now they’re looking to take $25 million and put it into this growth fund, understand that there’s 50, some odd $1,000,000 they’re supposed to give back to the state. That’s as I understand the reporting, but they’re not doing that. They’re taking 25,000,000 putting into a new fund where they’re going to charge a fee for managing it and then they’re going to the private sector to see if they can raise 75,000,000 more dollars based on their own press release and try and invest in business. I don’t know who’s going to give them $75 million. I don’t know if they’ve raised any money at all. But I think that the more, more serious question is, is this the role of the state? And certainly, are we getting all of the updates that are necessary from a state organization? Now where it gets interesting is that maybe this isn’t something that falls under a state organization because of its structure. They aren’t considered a state agency. But if your funding is coming from the state, how are you not considered a state agency so there’s a couple of pieces here regarding how this group operates why we need this Elevate Ventures anyway, whether or not the IEDC and the of this foundation they created to raise money the IEDF, the Indiana Economic Development Foundation, whether or not this creates any value whatsoever or is this just a way to raise money to then engage pressure and lobbying of the General Assembly to do the bidding of others, right? An organization gives to the foundation and then the Development Corporation says we should be investing in more of this because they got a donation from so and so. And I make no accusation of discussing where the potential problem could be. But it should be clear that we should be a place that wants growth but maybe shouldn’t be engaged in picking winners and losers in this way. And the idea that Elevate Ventures should take the money they owe back to the state and say we’re going to start another fund seems very awkward and the institution existing for the sake of the institution, and not for the sake of the citizen, in this case, the Hoosier that they are supposed to provide results for. That’s what I took from the piece there over at Hannah News Service, which is very interesting. Now you have the CEO, Christopher Day saying, and this is from the IBJ, fearing catastrophic consequences. Saying 48 early-stage companies could be affected far along in the pipeline for investment, potentially days or weeks away from funding approval when the freeze was announced. With all due respect, I’m not angry with you. Yeah, I don’t know if I have a reason to be, but rather. I’m not going to buy into that argument. The larger scale question has to be whether or not this is something we should be doing as a state, not that you think that we have to keep going down a road that maybe provides no value. That’s the conversation here.
Listen to the “Braun Administration Freezes Funds For Elevate Ventures” discussion in full here:Ā Ā Ā
Listen to the Show in Full here:Ā Ā Ā
Watch the show in Full here:
Don’t miss a minute of Tony Katz and the Morning News. Bookmark & Subscribe!
Tony Katz + The Morning News Archives – WIBC 93.1 FM
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Tony Katz + The Morning News on Apple Podcasts