This past week I attended a joint presentation of UVEF, where I serve on the board, MWCN, and UTC. A panel discussion was held on the Utah Fund of Funds, a unique collaboration of venture capital firms and government resources whose purpose is to put great entrepreneurial ideas in Utah together with the necessary funds and people to make ideas reality.

The Fund invests in venture capital and private equity funds that commit to establishing a working relationship with the Utah Fund of Funds.$100M has been set aside for the effort of which the majority has benefited 23 Utah startups yielding almost a thousand new jobs with an average salary of around $62k – not to shabby. Several other states have a Fund of Funds initiative, some of which have almost two decades of experience under their belts. However, among these states Utah’s Fund of Funds holds the distinction of the highest number of new “deals” funded per year – 15. That’s not bad for a youngster.

Steve Spencer of Utah Tech Spotlight had some interesting thoughts on this event. Brock Blake also speaks highly of UFoF. Panelists at last week’s event included VC stakeholders making deals happen.  Speakers across the board were very high on Utah as a seedbed for new startups. Mark Gorenberg of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners stated emphatically that of all states Utah has the “best potential for technology growth” in the near term.

For those who thought the glory days of Utah’s tech sector had seen better days with the rise and fall of Iomega, WordPerfect, Novell, and others this should provide an attitude adjustment.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Boardroom PR, High Tech PR, Sm Bus PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.