TEDCO's CEO explains how the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative supports a diverse, sustainable ecosystem throughout Maryland.
Even prior to the pandemic, many startups — including those in seemingly lucrative spaces like technology and the life sciences — struggled to succeed.
Too frequently, the failure to advance is not due to a lack of innovation or talent; rather it’s a lack of funding and connections that keeps some of Maryland’s best and brightest entrepreneurs from scaling up, hiring more employees and strengthening the economy and their communities.
TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, is proud to be one of three Maryland entities chosen to administer the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) to help turn that story around.
SSBCI provides funds to support businesses with limited opportunities for growth. Originally established in 2010, the latest version is expected to catalyze up to $10 of private investment for every $1 of SSBCI capital funding, amplifying the money’s effects and providing small business owners with the resources they need to sustainably grow and thrive.
TEDCO is thrilled to partner with two lead agencies — the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and the Commerce Department’s Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority — to allocate our state’s funding allotment.
In Maryland, the statewide SSBCI initiatives purposefully target communities and areas with a high concentration of small, micro and Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individual (SEDI) businesses, providing them with loans or equity investments. Slated to receive up to $50 million in SSBCI funding, TEDCO chose to allocate the funds to our existing investment funds, targeting technology-based Maryland businesses and entrepreneurs.
Those include businesses like JuneBrain Inc., a Baltimore-based startup that received a $150,000 investment from TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds earlier this year. Through the creation of a telehealth eye-scanning system, JuneBrain’s AI-based eye-scanning solution allows providers to identify and monitor disease activity in their patients without requiring appointments.
Noting that the eye is a great indicator of certain diseases, JuneBrain CEO Samantha Scott and her team are developing a network of telehealth devices and AI software products that are intentionally designed to work together and optimize remote monitoring of eye and brain diseases. In addition to developing this innovative technology, JuneBrain’s goal is to improve access to healthcare by expanding retinal imaging technology to vulnerable and underserved communities.
Like JuneBrain, TEDCO is also working to improve accessibility; in our case, it’s greater accessibility to the opportunities, funding and resources that Maryland entrepreneurs need to make real change and grow their businesses. TEDCO’s mission is to enhance economic empowerment by fostering an inclusive entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem while we identify, invest in and help grow technology companies in Maryland.
While JuneBrain’s product and story are uniquely its own, its challenge is that of so many other startups: lack of access to capital and resources. This is particularly true for startups led by underrepresented entrepreneurs. TEDCO’s goal for SSBCI funding is two-fold: investing in more tech businesses that will start and scale in Maryland, and investing in individuals and communities that are underrepresented in our innovation ecosystem. I am proud to say that TEDCO has not only met these goals but continues to exceed them, with 56% of our investments going to historically underrepresented founders and a recent ranking as one of the top five investors in the mid-Atlantic region. Meeting and exceeding these goals results in a positive economic impact and more equitable future for our state and its residents.
At TEDCO, SSBCI flows through various programs — the Venture Fund, Venture Capital Limited Partnership Equity program and Seed Funds Equity program — which are primarily focused on venture capital and startup funding. The fourth, the Social Impact Funds, provides investment and support to entrepreneurs who demonstrate economic or social disadvantage. Through these four programs, TEDCO will continue to leverage its relationships with top-tier technology companies, entrepreneurs and investors in the state, while collaborating with universities, regional business accelerators and incubators and other organizations to make sure these Treasury funds make the greatest possible impact.
TEDCO encourages Maryland tech startup founders to explore our programs and reach out to us with any questions. Alongside our federal and state partners, TEDCO is working toward a day when our entrepreneurial ecosystem is fully inclusive of the diverse, talented and innovative founders who choose to stay and grow their businesses in every corner of the great state of Maryland.
Source: Technical.ly