Penn. gives VC firms $23M

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed. Rendell announced last week that the Keystone State is investing more than $23 million in eight venture firms that will use the money to help area startups that specialize in nanotechnology, life sciences and information management.

Not all the recipients are in Pennsylvania. Boston-based Oxford BioScience received $5 million in capital commitments for its fund, Oxford Bioscience Partners V. Oxford will manage its Pennsylvania investments from an office in Pittsburgh.

The other recipients are Psilos Group Partners, which received $5 million; Brook Ventures, $5 million; Innovation Ventures, $2.1 million; Edison Venture Fund, $1 million; MentorTech Management, $1 million; and New Spring Ventures, $1 million.

Additionally, the University Science Center in Philadelphia received $3 million in capital commitments for Science I, a fund that will invest in early stage life sciences companies.

The money is part of the New PA Venture Capital Investment Program, a key component of Rendell’s economic development program.

This program is making sure that young companies get the financing they need and are not forced to look to other states for help, Rendell said in a statement. The program is working not only in our established technology hubs of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but in other parts of the state as well, where early stage capital can be hard to find.