
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 5, 1995                   TAG: 9503060062
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VENTURING ELSEWHERE TO FIND THE MONEY

A good way to get the attention of venture capitalists is to give them large sums of money to invest,and that is what Virginia Tech has done. In return, the three venture capital funds Tech has invested in are expected to consider putting money into some of the companies that have been formed to commercialize technology arising from research at the university.

The investment is Tech's response to what is perceived to be Virginia's shortage of venture capital relative to nearby states. ``It's like there is this doughnut and Virginia is the hole in the middle of it,'' said Raymond Smoot, treasurer and vice president for finance at Tech.

But most Virginia entrepreneurs don't have Tech's resources. They have to fend for themselves in the search for money to help their businesses develop. Often that means going outside the state for money, and sometimes they take their companies with them. The result can be a loss of jobs and revenue for Virginia.

It's something the recent General Assembly took so seriously that it authorized a joint committee to study capital formation and report at the legislature's next session.

Not every entrepreneur believes Virginia has a venture capital shortage. Former Roanoker Al Bender, a founder of FiberCom, says the problem is not a shortage of investors but a shortage of good ideas.

But his is a minority view among the entrepreneurs and financial experts consulted for today's stories on business capital. They are in the Horizon section today and are part of the newspaper's ongoing ``Peril and Promise'' series about economic issues in the New River-Roanoke Valley region.

by CNB