USDA Announces Launch of $100M Rural Business Investment Company

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the launch of the McLarty Capital Partners’ Rural Business Investment Company (RBIC) – a new private investment fund with the potential to inject $100 million into growth-oriented, small businesses across rural America. As the fifth RBIC to launch since 2014, McLarty Capital Partners’ RBIC is part of the Made in Rural America initiative, an ongoing effort by the Obama administration to attract private sector capital to investment opportunities in rural America and drive more economic growth in rural communities.

Join us at SSTI’s 2016 Annual Conference to learn more about proven strategies that have helped rural regions and small metros build strong capital-investment networks and how they connect with larger pools of capital outside their region. During the session, Building Bridges: Connecting Small & Mid-Sized Communities, our panel of experts will draw upon their own experiences as well as discuss other models from across the country to help attendees develop better strategies for cultivating and growing their region’s investor network and connecting it to other capital sources outside their region. Our panelists include:

• Eva Doss – President & CEO of The Launch Place;
• Nathaniel V. Henshaw – Managing Director of CEI Ventures; and,
• Pat Morand – President of Open Prairie Ventures.

In May  2016, Open Prairie Ventures was announced as the fourth RBIC by USDA. The first three RBICs include: Advantage Capital Partners (2014), Innova Memphis (2015), and Meritus Kirchner Capital (2015).