Entrepreneur fund secures $1.8 million

Seven private donors have committed a total of $1.8 million for a fund intended to boost early-stage companies, says Research Park Corporation Chairman Terrell Brown. The fund will be managed by Step One Ventures, which the RPC and BRAC are in the process of setting up. The immediate goal is to raise at least $6 million, which officials hope will include $1 million from the Louisiana Economic Development Corporation. Step One already has been turned down once while seeking the LEDC grant, partly because at the time Step One didn’t have the necessary $1.5 million in matching funds. Eventually, the plan is for Step One to support a nonprofit fund, a for-profit fund and an angel investor network. A search for Step One’s CEO is under way; Cleveland-based JumpStart, which led creation of Step One’s business plan, is helping to screen the candidates, Brown says. The RPC, which also runs the Louisiana Technology Park, plans to fund Step One’s operations for the first three years, although officials say the new entity will operate separately from the Tech Park. —David Jacobs