Let’s do this again.
This week, Michigan rolled out Angel 2.0, a three-year, $27 million effort to encourage wealthy individuals to fund promising high startups in the state.
“This is a huge deal,” says Paul Brown, vice president of capital markets for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. who’s supervising the program. “Angels had been advocating for this for years.”
Well, to be more specific, angels had been advocating for a tax credit they would actually use. The state’s previous incarnation would only grant credits to angels who invested the money they earned from a previous investment into another company. Which kind of makes it hard to start, since there aren’t many people who have that kind of track record.
This time, an angel doesn’t need to have such gold-plated experience. Qualifying applicants can immediately receive up to $250,000 in credits a year. By offering $9 million worth of credits a year, the state hopes to convince its rich citizens to roll the dice and bankroll risky early stage startups.
Across the country, angel credits have become a popular economic development tool, especially in
