Attracting St. Louis' Money

One of the goals of Advance Northeast Ohio is to attract more venture dollars to the region. Venture dollars are invested in high-growth companies and the more venture dollars the region attracts, the healthier the region's economy will be.

Over the last few years several venture firms have opened offices in Northeast Ohio to have better access to the region's most promising companies. The latest example is RiverVest Venture Partners, a life science venture capital firm out of St. Louis, which announced on Dec. 17th that it is opening an office at BioEnterprise in Cleveland. Karen Spilizewski, a vice president with RiverVest, will manage the office.

You can read more about RiverVest here.

RiverVest co-founder and managing director, Jay Schmelter, said, “We are excited about
the investment prospects in Ohio, which led all Midwestern states in life science venture
capital investments through the first nine months of 2007. Having a presence in Ohio
will further our strategy of investing nationally, while capitalizing on under-served
centers of research and clinical excellence in the Midwest."

When outside investors want in, that's a good sign that your region's economy is on the rise.