Third company in Perry’s tech fund files for bankruptcy
SAN ANTONIO — A third company awarded taxpayer dollars through Gov. Rick Perry’s business-hatching Emerging Technology Fund has filed for bankruptcy, folding after the state cut off money that was tied to hitting milestones not in the original contract, the president of the startup said Thursday.
The bankruptcy filing raises the amount of failed investments by the state’s venture capital-like fund to $2.5 million. Although that’s a sliver of the tech fund’s total $192 million portfolio, this latest bankruptcy brought fresh criticism to a fund shadowed by questions over accountability and transparency.
NanoTailor Inc. President Ramon Perales said his Austin-based startup had been making progress. But he told The Associated Press that after NanoTailor received its first $250,000 award in 2010, the state took another $1 million in potential funding off the table when the company couldn’t hit new benchmarks the state now required to receive the full investment.
Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said the state cut off an underperforming NanoTailor to protect taxpayers, adding that the company would have been required to sign off on any contract revisions.
More at http://www.theeagle.com/article/20120615/BC0105/120619719/1142
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