[Senate Hearing 116-634]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                        S. Hrg. 116-634

                   BETTING ON THE REST: EXPANDING AMERICAN 
                  ENTREPRENEURSHIP OUTSIDE TRADITIONAL HUBS

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                       SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS, 
                  TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION AND THE INTERNET

                                 OF THE

                         COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
                      SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                     ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                           DECEMBER 15, 2020

                               __________

    Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation
                             
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                Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov
                
                               __________

                                
                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
52-922 PDF                WASHINGTON : 2023                    
          
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       SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

                     ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                  ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Chairman
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota             MARIA CANTWELL, Washington, 
ROY BLUNT, Missouri                      Ranking
TED CRUZ, Texas                      AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska                RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JERRY MORAN, Kansas                  BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska                 EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
CORY GARDNER, Colorado               TOM UDALL, New Mexico
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee          GARY PETERS, Michigan
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia  TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MIKE LEE, Utah                       TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin               JON TESTER, Montana
TODD YOUNG, Indiana                  KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
RICK SCOTT, Florida                  JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
                       John Keast, Staff Director
                  Crystal Tully, Deputy Staff Director
                      Steven Wall, General Counsel
                 Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
              Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
                      Renae Black, Senior Counsel
                                 ------                                

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS, TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION AND THE INTERNET

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman
ROY BLUNT, Missouri                  BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii, Ranking
TED CRUZ, Texas                      AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska                RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JERRY MORAN, Kansas                  EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska                 TOM UDALL, New Mexico
CORY GARDNER, Colorado               GARY PETERS, Michigan
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee          TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia  TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
MIKE LEE, Utah                       JON TESTER, Montana
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin               KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
TODD YOUNG, Indiana                  JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
RICK SCOTT, Florida
                            
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page
Hearing held on December 15, 2020................................     1
Statement of Senator Thune.......................................     1
Statement of Senator Schatz......................................     3
Statement of Senator Wicker......................................     4
Statement of Senator Klobuchar...................................     5
Statement of Senator Peters......................................    33
Statement of Senator Moran.......................................    35
Statement of Senator Rosen.......................................    41
Statement of Senator Tester......................................    43

                               Witnesses

David Hall, Managing Partner, Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed 
  Fund...........................................................     6
    Prepared statement...........................................     8
Raymond Hespen, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Property 
  Meld...........................................................    10
    Prepared statement...........................................    12
Jan Garfinkle, Founder and Managing Partner, Arboretum Ventures..    13
    Prepared statement...........................................    14
Dawn Lippert, Chief Executive Officer, Elemental Excelerator.....    21
    Prepared statement...........................................    24

                                Appendix

Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema 
  to:
    David Hall...................................................    51
    Raymond Hespen...............................................    51
    Jan Garfinkle................................................    52
    Dawn Lippert.................................................    54

 
                          BETTING ON THE REST:
                  EXPANDING AMERICAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP
                        OUTSIDE TRADITIONAL HUBS

                              ----------                              


                       TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020

                               U.S. Senate,
       Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, 
                       Innovation and the Internet,
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m., in 
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John Thune, 
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Thune [presiding], Wicker, Moran, Scott, 
Schatz, Cantwell, Klobuchar, Peters, Tester, and Rosen.

             OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN THUNE, 
                 U.S. SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA

    Senator Thune. Well, good afternoon and welcome to today's 
subcommittee hearing to review the state of entrepreneurship in 
America. I want to welcome everyone joining us today, both in 
person and virtually. For much of our Nation's history, 
entrepreneurship has enabled both American progress and 
American prosperity. It is the bedrock of the American dream 
and has led to the economic mobility of millions of citizens.
    Over the course of the last 50 years, venture capitalists 
played an increasingly important role in the continuation of 
America's entrepreneurial spirit. The venture capital model has 
led to tremendous economic growth in recent decades and venture 
capital investment as a result in some of America's most 
profitable and consequential companies. Many of these venture 
capital backed businesses have enabled the technology we have 
come to rely on during the COVID-19 pandemic, from food and 
grocery delivery services to virtual health care applications.
    Today, it often feels as if entrepreneurs and venture 
capitalists go hand in hand, the former depending on the 
latter, to scale and to realize their full impact. However, we 
are here to not only talk about the relationship between 
venture capital and entrepreneurship, but also where this 
relationship is occurring and more importantly, where it is 
not. In 2019, California-based companies received roughly 50 
percent of all venture backed investment in the United States. 
That same year, just three states, California, New York and 
Massachusetts accounted for almost 75 percent. Although there 
are many valid reasons why this is the case, which I look 
forward to exploring with our witnesses today, however, this 
geographic imbalance also means that a majority of regions 
within the United States are often shut out from the kind of 
investment that creates jobs, revitalizes communities, and 
enables the pursuit of the American dream.
    Fortunately, this is a problem the private sector is trying 
to solve, and we have already benefited from the work of many 
individuals, including those on the panel with us today. In 
addition, initiatives like the expansion of reliable broadband 
services to businesses across America, including many in my 
home state of South Dakota, have already begun to provide 
greater connectivity between these communities and the larger 
economy, which helped spur more venture capital investment in 
entrepreneurial support. While we have made progress, the 
impact of COVID-19 make solving the investment gap all the more 
important and all the more urgent.
    At a time when there has been economic uncertainty, 
entrepreneurs are the ones building businesses that will in 
turn create jobs. It is likely that many of these new 
businesses will continue to focus on innovation and technology, 
an industry that historically has been supported by venture 
capital. Without greater access to capital in underserved 
regions, the flow of talent, wealth, and opportunity will 
continue to move to only a handful of coastal cities and the 
full range and diversity of American ingenuity will go 
unrealized. I have seen firsthand what rural America has to 
offer.
    In my home state of South Dakota, we have entrepreneurs 
working on therapeutics and other services to combat the COVID-
19 pandemic. We have technology companies delivering the next 
generation of precision agriculture. And against increasing 
competition from countries like China, I believe more 
investment in American entrepreneurship in all regions of the 
United States will better position us in the long run.
    At the end of the day, it is not going to be politicians 
and regulators driving the next wave of American innovation. It 
will be the private sector that will ultimately expand economic 
opportunities across the United States. And it is my view that 
the best the government can do is to fully recognize this and 
then actively try to not stand in the way. Today, I hope this 
panel will shed light on this important topic and bring to 
Congress's attention the diverse voices of the American 
entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurs who live in San Francisco and 
New York City, as well as the ones who call places like Boise, 
Atlanta, or Rapid City, home. To explore this topic, we are 
excited to have a panel today that represents the full 
geographic range of American entrepreneurship.
    We are joined by Mr. David Hall, who serves as the Managing 
Director of Revolution's Rise of the Seed--Rise of the Rest 
Seed, I should say, Fund, which is based here in D.C.; Ms. Jan 
Garfinkel, CEO of Arboretum Ventures in Michigan; Mr. Ray 
Hespen, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of Property Meld, a 
technology startup in South Dakota; and Ms. Dawn Lippert, CEO 
of Elemental Excelerator, a startup excelerator based out of 
Hawaii. I want to thank you all for joining us here today.
    I look forward to hearing your testimony and I now want to 
recognize by screen Ranking Member Schatz for any opening 
remarks that he would like to make. Senator Schatz, are you 
with us?

                STATEMENT OF HON. BRIAN SCHATZ, 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM HAWAII

    Senator Schatz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank 
the Chair of the Subcommittee, Senator Thune, and the Chair of 
the whole Committee, Senator Wicker, for this important 
hearing. Innovation drives the American economy and many 
entrepreneurs turn to venture investment to get new concepts 
off the ground. But in recent decades, we haven't just seen a 
geographic concentration of these efforts, we have also seen 
that billions of dollars and significant brainpower have been 
invested in companies with products designed merely to make our 
lives more convenient, all the while solutions to problems that 
most threaten our world remain underfunded.
    We must use our resources and ingenuity to solve our most 
serious problems like hunger, homelessness, health care 
availability, the pandemic, and climate change. We also have to 
make sure that investments in resources and talent to solve 
these problems are made across the country and not just at the 
hubs that Senator Thune mentioned. To fully harness the power 
of innovation in America, we must break away from private 
investment targeted toward the usual tech hotspots and instead 
work to spur innovation across the country so that we can 
deliver new economic opportunities for all Americans. This is 
especially true today as we work toward an economic recovery 
after COVID-19.
    Among the problems I listed, I will focus for the moment on 
the climate crisis because we are so fortunate to have Dawn 
Lippert of the Elemental Excelerator here today from Honolulu, 
Hawaii. The Elemental Excelerator has proven our early stage 
investments can help to develop clean technologies with very 
impressive results. To date, it has seen over 5,000 new 
technologies awarded more than $40 million to 115 companies and 
has deployed over 70 projects in energy, mobility, agriculture, 
water, and the circular economy. It has partnered with the 
Hawaii Department of Transportation to reduce carbon emissions 
from concrete construction and work with the state and local 
businesses to identify opportunities for innovation in Hawaii's 
wastewater management.
    The climate crisis threatens to create a real drag on the 
U.S. economy, and our future depends on bold innovation and 
clean technologies to address it. It is time for private 
investment to meet the scale of the problem with solutions that 
reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and help us to become 
resilient to climate impacts. Although some investors, such as 
Ms. Lippert and the Elemental Excelerator, are putting their 
money behind novel solutions to the climate crisis and showing 
that this is profitable, we will need many more. If the global 
marketplace is looking for climate solutions, meeting this 
demand will drive the next technological revolution and growth 
opportunities for American businesses.
    Unfortunately, this growth opportunity has been largely 
ignored by venture investors today and we need to fix that. 
Venture investment must be mobilized toward fixing existential 
problems like climate change, not just giving us new apps that 
get us a burrito more quickly. And a key part of this is 
realizing the enormous economic opportunity in addressing 
climate change, in addressing farming, in having more venture 
capitalists refocused from a short sightedness to focusing 
brainpower and the power of capital on the problems that face 
our entire society.
    And so I look forward to hearing the witnesses' testimony 
and having a productive conversation on these topics. Thank 
you.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Schatz. The Chairman of 
the Full Committee, Senator Wicker, is with us as well, 
virtually, and I will ask if Senator Wicker--Mr. Chairman, are 
you there?

                STATEMENT OF HON. ROGER WICKER, 
                 U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI

    Senator Wicker. I am here. Can you hear me?
    Senator Thune. Yes, indeed. Please proceed.
    Senator Wicker. Alright, good. Well, thank you so much. And 
thank you also, Senator Schatz, for this important Subcommittee 
hearing and for the discussion that is critical to the future 
of rural communities, a subject matter that both of my 
distinguished colleagues are very interested in. There is a 
broadband gap between rural and urban America, and there is 
also a venture capital gap. According to a map produced by the 
National Venture Capital Association, the Southeast and the 
Midwest regions received a little over 6 percent of capital as 
a first this quarter, while the West Coast and mid-Atlantic 
regions received over 60 percent.
    That is 6 percent versus 60 percent. Such a disparity 
between regions makes it vital that this committee continue its 
work to provide rural communities with the tools they need to 
compete for venture capital. These tools include access to 5G, 
high-speed wireless networks, as well as educational 
opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics. The 5G economy is projected to create more than 3 
million jobs, generate as much as $275 billion in new 
investments for the wireless industry, and add up to $500 
billion to our Nation's economy over the next decade.
    5G will unleash innovation and entrepreneurship, providing 
a high level of performance to support a wide range of new 
applications and use cases. Next generation broadband 
deployment has been a major focus of mine as Chairman of this 
Committee. As the United States begins to deploy 5G networks, 
it will be important to ensure a level playing field for rural 
communities. We also need to make sure we have the talent 
pipeline needed to capitalize on these new technologies. Let me 
briefly mention one, a piece of legislation and one 
collaboration with the university. I have worked across the 
aisle with my friend and colleague, Senator Rosen, to introduce 
the Rural STEM Education Act to provide rural schools with the 
resources they need to take advantage of the opportunities 
afforded by 5G. Rural STEM education, combined with increased 
venture capital investment in rural areas, can help alleviate 
the so-called ``brain drain,'' something Mississippi has 
struggled with, bright young people leaving the state to seek 
opportunity elsewhere.
    In addition, Mississippi has been active in working to 
increase capital flow into rural communities. A prominent 
example is a Mississippi State University, which has partnered 
with Georgetown University through the Rural Opportunity 
Initiative to educate investors and lenders and promote 
investment in rural America through programming, internships, 
research, partnerships, and advocacy.
    I am proud of Mississippi State's leadership and I look 
forward to the Committee continuing to exercise leadership and 
equipping rural communities with 5G technology and educational 
opportunities in the STEM fields. Thank you very much, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Chairman Wicker. We now have my 
neighbor to the east, Senator Klobuchar, from the great state 
of Minnesota. She is going to make some quick opening remarks. 
Appearing with us virtually, Senator Klobuchar.

               STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA

    Senator Klobuchar. Well, thank you so much, Chairman Thune. 
Thank you, Ranking Member Schatz. Thank you as well to Chairman 
Wicker and also Senator Cantwell, who I know knows a little bit 
about entrepreneurship. So I got involved in this because I 
live in our state and right next door to South Dakota, and 
started the Senate Entrepreneurship Caucus with Senator Tim 
Scott.
    And the reason we did that is because after the OA 
downturn, we realized there was a startup slump going on, and 
we know that is how a lot of the jobs are created in our 
country. And one of the things we immediately knew, and I think 
we all knew it just from our own experiences, is that over 70 
percent of all the venture capital being concentrated--is 
concentrated in just three areas. That is Silicon Valley, 
Boston, and New York. And so what happens is too often 
promising startups aren't able to access the support they need 
simply because of where they are located.
    And I think if there is any silver lining to this pandemic, 
it is perhaps that no matter where you are, you are going to be 
able to access employees and the like as more people are 
working remotely. But it is still a problem, and we have seen 
it even more magnified as small businesses are closing at a 
faster rate than big ones. And so in March, I introduced 
legislation called the New Business Preservation Act with 
Senators Coons, Kaine, and King to help new startups get the 
capital they need. And I actually think this is the perfect 
time as we go into the new year. We are doing emergency 
legislation right now that is so necessary. But to look at a 
bill like this. Because what it would do is, is it puts capital 
into the areas that we need it.
    It makes sure that we find a way to do this legally through 
the states, and it makes sure that the money is going to areas 
that don't have all the startups and that we don't miss the 
next great entrepreneur just because they live in Bemidji, 
Minnesota, instead of Silicon Valley. And what we know is that 
the more startups we can have, the more problems we are going 
to fix, and the more jobs we are going to create in this 
country.
    So as we see the light at the end of the tunnel with the 
vaccine, I think it is a really good time for this committee in 
the coming months to look not just at my bill, but into all 
legislation that deals with how we can encourage 
entrepreneurship and startups. So thank you very much. Thank 
you, Mr. Chairman. Look forward to hearing from the witnesses.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. I think we 
will get on with our panelists here. And again, I want to thank 
you all for being here. This is a great--a great group. As I 
mentioned earlier, we have Mr. David Hall, who is Managing 
Partner at Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. And I 
mentioned entrepreneurs in my home state of South Dakota. 
Certainly, Ray Hespen qualifies as that, having started a 
business in South Dakota back in 2015. It is a fast growing 
maintenance automation software company, and it is creating a 
lot of jobs in Western South Dakota.
    Glad to have you here, Ray. Ms. Jan Garfinkle, who, as I 
said, is Founder and Managing Partner of Arboretum Ventures. 
And then, Ms. Dawn Lippert, who is Chief Executive Officer of 
Elemental Excelerator. So what we are going to do is start with 
Mr. Hall, and go to Mr. Hespen, and then to each of our--the 
other two are going to be appearing virtually. Give you an 
opportunity to make some comments. If you could, confine your 
oral arguments--your oral statements to about 5 minutes. We 
will make sure that your entire statements are included as part 
of the written record of the hearing. But then we will have an 
opportunity to ask you all some questions. So we will start 
with Mr. Hall. Please proceed.

STATEMENT OF DAVID HALL, MANAGING PARTNER, REVOLUTION'S RISE OF 
                       THE REST SEED FUND

    Mr. Hall. Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Schatz, members of 
the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you 
today. My name is David Hall and I am the Managing Partner of 
Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, a Washington, D.C. 
based venture capital fund started in 2005 by Steve Case, the 
Co-Founder of AOL.
    Our core investment thesis is that great entrepreneurs can 
start great businesses and scale them anywhere. And in 2014, 
Revolution launched the Rise of the Rest initiative, which is 
our annual five city, 5 day bus tour, to shine a spotlight on 
growing energy and momentum in startup ecosystems across the 
country. This led to our first Rise of the Rest Seed Fund in 
2017, followed by our successor fund in 2019, in which we 
believe the next great company can start and scale outside of 
Silicon Valley, New York City, and Boston. And since our 
launch, we have invested in more than 150 companies and over 70 
different cities across the United States.
    We have learned an incredible amount about what helps and 
hinders startups in communities across the country. And today, 
I would like to discuss how venture capital and startup 
ecosystems are good for the country, good for cities, and good 
for Americans. But let's level set with facts. In 2019, 
according to data compiled by the National Venture Capital 
Association in Pittsburgh, there was approximately $133 billion 
in U.S. venture capital invested in American startups. Of that 
amount, approximately 73 percent was invested in just three 
states: California, New York, and Massachusetts, leaving the 
other 47 states and the District of Columbia to receive only 27 
percent of this total amount.
    In addition, and even more stark, less than 10 percent of 
venture capital is invested in women led startups and less than 
1 percent is invested in black or African-American founders. So 
while we all may believe that talent is evenly distributed 
across our country, the opportunity often depends on where you 
live and what you look like. The future of America's economic 
competitiveness depends on all of us addressing these 
inequities. And you may ask, why is it important for Americans 
to support startups and entrepreneurs across the country?
    Well, in any given year, startups are responsible for the 
majority of net new job growth in the U.S., according to the 
Kauffman Foundation. This is true because of several factors, 
including globalization and automation and other factors which 
collectively drive down job growth. Good companies, jobs rise 
and fall through mergers and divestitures, while small 
businesses, which are still responsible for most jobs, tend to 
remain relatively stable. Therefore, bolstering these young 
startups is the best way for us to revive economies which have 
been hardest hit by the shifts in the global economy. The major 
companies of tomorrow have the potential to employ millions and 
improve education, health care, financial services, and are 
being built today as early stage startups, often outside of the 
major tech hubs.
    These entrepreneurs need our support to unlock the 
necessary capital and accelerate and commercialize technologies 
that can improve outcomes and continue to drive the U.S. 
economy into the future. To date, our Rise of the Rest tours 
have taken us to more than 40 cities, and while every city in 
every region sees value in supporting startups, the most 
successful cities that we visited have recognized their legacy 
and strengths to attract and nurture innovation, entrepreneurs, 
and the high growth and high impact jobs they create. For 
example, in 2018 we toured Chattanooga, Tennessee, also 
referred to as ``Freight Alley'' because of the concentration 
of freight and logistics businesses, which with more than 7,000 
white collar jobs, in addition to the thousands of drivers and 
operators, are innovating a legacy industry for a 2-day 
shipping reality.
    Over the last decade, there have been many headlines 
detailing the coming tech and talent exodus from Silicon Valley 
and New York City. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the 
storyline of big name founders leaving hard hit coastal tech 
hubs. And while some of this most recent displacement is likely 
to be temporary, I do believe that a significant amount of 
coastal tech talent will permanently relocate to take advantage 
of a better standard of living. This has the potential to be 
transformative in many emerging startup systems in places like 
Pittsburgh, Detroit, Miami, Bozeman.
    Beyond the proximity to family, the pandemic is driving the 
boomerang of this talent back to rising cities because these 
young people see comparable career opportunities in their 
hometowns for the first time in a generation. Finally, I 
believe the social injustice and racial animus of the past 
summer has led to a tipping point in conversations around 
diversity, equity, and inclusion in the startup and venture 
capital industry. This has led to immediate calls for greater 
access to capital for entrepreneurs of color, women 
entrepreneurs, and other represented entrepreneurs who have 
historically been excluded from the VC club.
    At Rise of the Rest, we were so motivated we transformed 
our COVID postponed bus tour to a virtual tour focused 
exclusively on black founders. I believe that now is the time 
for all stakeholders, including policymakers, corporations, 
universities, investors and most importantly, entrepreneurs, to 
accelerate the growth of regional tech ecosystems. It is up to 
all of us and critical for America's future economic 
competitiveness that all founders everywhere and from all walks 
of life have access to the capital that can give them the shot 
to build America's next iconic company. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Hall follows:]

          Prepared Statement of David Hall, Managing Partner, 
                Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund
    Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Schatz and Members of the Committee, 
thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is David 
Hall and I'm the managing partner of Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed 
Fund. Revolution is a Washington, DC based investment firm launched in 
2005 by Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL. Our firm has principally 
invested in venture-backable companies under the thesis that ``great 
entrepreneurs can start and scale great businesses anywhere.'' In 2014, 
Revolution launched the Rise of the Rest initiative to shine a 
spotlight on the growing energy and momentum in startup ecosystems 
across the country. The lynchpin of that program each year is a five 
day bus tour to emerging startup ecosystems where we spend time 
understanding how cities are capitalizing on their unique strengths to 
create a more robust innovation community. Interest in our bus tours 
and our investment focus on rising cities in America grew and directly 
led to the launch of the first $150M Rise of the Rest Seed Fund in late 
2017, and the second Fund, which we raised in 2019. Both Funds are 
backed by an extraordinary list of investors, executives, and 
entrepreneurs who publicly support our belief that the next great 
company can start and scale outside of Silicon Valley, New York City 
and Boston. Since launching the first fund, we have invested in more 
than 150 companies in over 70 cities across the United States. We have 
learned an incredible amount about what helps and hinders startups in 
communities across the country. Today, I would like to discuss how 
venture capital and its ability to support the technology and startup 
ecosystem is good for the country, good for individual cities and 
states who actively participate in supporting startup ecosystems, and 
good for U.S. citizens, particularly those in rising communities.
    Despite the positive momentum we have witnessed with respect to 
startup growth in a number of cities, it is critical to level set with 
some facts around place and people, and understand startups crucial 
role in job creation. In 2019, according to data compiled by the 
National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Pitchbook,\1\ there was 
approximately $133 billion in U.S. venture capital invested in American 
startups. Of that amount, approximately 73 percent was invested in just 
3 states: California, New York, and Massachusetts. California alone 
received nearly half of this amount at over $65 billion, while the 
other 47 states and the District of Columbia saw only 27 percent of 
this total amount.
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    \1\ https://nvca.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NVCA-2020-
Yearbook.pdf
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    In addition, and even more stark, less than 10 percent of venture 
capital is invested in women led startups and less than 1 percent is 
invested in Black or African American startup founders.\2\ So while we 
may all believe that talent is evenly distributed across our country, 
opportunity is not. The likelihood that one will receive venture 
funding to scale really does depend on where you live, and to which 
gender and racial identities you ascribe. It is critically important 
that we address these inequities. And to do so will require the 
commitment of the venture industry, academia, the larger business 
community, and policymakers at all levels. The future of America's 
economic competitiveness depends on it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://news.crunchbase.com/news/untapped-opportunity-minority-
founders-still-being-over
looked/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    You may ask, why is it important for stakeholders--private sector, 
academia, and public sector--to support American startups and 
entrepreneurs all across this country? In any given year, startups are 
responsible for the majority of net new job growth in the United States 
according to research from the Kaufmann Foundation.\3\ This is true 
because of several factors, including globalization, automation, and 
other factors which collectively drive down job growth.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ https://www.kauffman.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/
firm_formation_importance_of_
startups.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Organic job growth at large corporations tends to wax and wane 
through mergers and divestitures, leading to a flat to net reduction in 
job growth. While small businesses, which are still responsible for 
most jobs, tend to remain relatively stable. Therefore, it is mostly 
through startups, that we see exponential net job growth. This is 
important because bolstering these young businesses and job creators 
are the best way for us to revive economies which have hardest hit by 
the shifts in the global economy. The major companies of tomorrow that 
have the potential to employ millions and improve education, 
healthcare, financial services, and other industries, are being built 
today as early stage startups, often by people who do not live in one 
of the major tech hubs. These entrepreneurs need our support to unlock 
the necessary capital from both public and private sources. Doing so 
will accelerate and commercialize technologies that can improve 
outcomes, drive down consumer costs, and continue to drive the U.S. 
economy into the future.
    To date, our Rise of the Rest bus tours have taken us to more than 
40 cities. Each year, we visit five cities in five days to witness and 
highlight how cities and communities are rising to the challenge of 
supporting their burgeoning startup ecosystems. While every region sees 
the value in supporting startups, the most successful cities that we 
have visited have recognized its uniqueness, its legacy, and its 
strengths to attract and nurture innovation, which, subsequently 
attracts entrepreneurs and the high-growth and high-impact jobs they 
create. For example, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where we took our tour 
in 2018, we learned that the city was referred to as ``Freight Alley'' 
because of the concentration of freight and logistics businesses. 
Indeed, the industry employs locally more than 7,000 white collar 
professionals, who in addition to the thousands of drivers, operators 
and brokers, are working to build technology for a legacy industry to 
better meet today's increased expectations and demands of rapid 
delivery of goods and products.\4\ We were also fortunate to leave 
Chattanooga with an investment in Freightwaves, a fast-growing data and 
media platform serving the freight industry which employs 130 people.
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    \4\ https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/edge/story/2019/oct/01/
moving-fast-freight-services-sector-riding-hi/504428/
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    We also saw a similar impact in Indianapolis, Indiana, following 
Salesforce's 2013 acquisition of Indianapolis-based company called 
ExactTarget, which grew from a small startup to a major tech company. 
Following the acquisition, Salesforce doubled-down on the Indianapolis 
ecosystem, built a large Midwestern headquarters, and helped to 
accelerate the transformation of Indianapolis into a major technology 
and business-to-business software leader.\5\ In addition, we have seen 
American innovation translate to entrepreneurship far beyond any given 
geography.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ https://oneamericaworks.org/blog/how-did-indy-score-a-
salesforce-hq/
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    Take Brevard County, Florida for example, which we visited in 2019 
on our bus tour. Startups all across the country are innovating in the 
space industry, and need to tap into the leadership and ingenuity of 
NASA with its epicenter along Florida's famed ``Space Coast.'' This 
critical industry, from a defense and commercial perspective, will 
continue to be fueled by and benefit from startups innovating outside 
of the major tech hubs, and in places like Central Florida, Southwest 
Texas, and Alabama.
    Talent is another factor to watch closely that can drive the 
success of a startup ecosystem, particularly for individual citizens. 
Over the last decade, there have been many headlines detailing the 
coming tech and entrepreneur exodus from Silicon Valley and from New 
York City. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this storyline with 
the media eagerly covering stories of big name founders leaving hard 
hit coastal tech hubs. While some of the most recent displacement is 
likely to be temporary, I do believe that a significant amount of 
coastal tech talent will permanently relocate to take advantage of a 
lower cost of living and less congested lifestyle. This has the 
potential to be transformative in many emerging startup ecosystems and 
will fill a critical gap in the human infrastructure so many ecosystem 
leaders and entrepreneurs have been building for years in places like 
Pittsburgh, Detroit, Miami and Bozeman. This is not exclusive to just 
tech talent; we have also seen businesses recruiting fashion designers, 
for example, to St. Louis to design swimsuits for our portfolio 
company, Summersalt, a women's swimwear brand. It is also important to 
remember that very few ``techies'' were born in the Bay Area or other 
coastal tech hubs. Most grew up and received education in other 
communities.
    They moved to these hubs because of the promise of outsized 
opportunity. Another one of our portfolio companies, Understory, a 
Madison, Wisconsin company that is building a parametric insurance 
company, actually relocated from Boston back home to Madison and saw 
incredible productivity gains and huge cost savings. The pandemic is 
definitely accelerating the boomerang of this talent back to hometowns, 
not just for proximity to family, but also because they see potentially 
comparable career opportunities in many rising cities for the first 
time in a generation.
    Finally, I believe that we are at a tipping point in conversations 
around diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tech start-up and 
venture capital industry. Amid much of the social justice and racial 
animus of the past summer, in the venture capital industry, we 
witnessed the immediate calls for greater access to capital for 
entrepreneurs of color, women entrepreneurs, and other underrepresented 
communities who have been historically excluded from the VC club. At 
Rise of the Rest, we were so motivated that we transformed our COVID-
postponed tour to a virtual tour focused exclusively on Black founders. 
We were able to source nearly 500 Black-led startups for a pitch 
competition, and will invest in 3 companies: Rheaply, a physical asset 
exchange manager; Kanarys, a platform that tracks diversity and 
inclusion for corporations, and Zirtue, a person-to-person lending 
platform. We also helped facilitate over 300 meetings between Black 
founders and top investors across the country.
    I believe that now is the time for all stakeholders, including 
policymakers, corporations, universities, investors, and most 
importantly, entrepreneurs, to accelerate the growth of regional tech 
ecosystems. It is up to all of us--and critical for America's future 
economic competitiveness--that all founders everywhere and from all 
walks of life access to the capital that can give them a shot to build 
the next iconic American company. Thank you.

    Senator Thune. Thank you, Mr. Hall. Mr. Hespen.

  STATEMENT OF RAYMOND HESPEN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND CO-
                     FOUNDER, PROPERTY MELD

    Mr. Hespen. Thank you, Senator Thune, Senator Schatz, 
subcommittee members. Appreciate the opportunity to come here 
and speak. My name is Ray Hespen. I am the CEO and Co-Founder 
of a software company called Property Meld. Where we specialize 
is actually in the rental business and maintenance 
specifically. So what we do is we make maintenance a phenomenal 
experience for both those who are renting, as well as those who 
manage rentals.
    We have hundreds of thousands of homes on our platform, 
both here in the U.S. and even some in Canada. And just a 
little bit of an idea of the genesis. We started the company 
around 2015 with the idea and the problem. By 2018, we achieved 
hypergrowth, so we went from two employees to four. And now in 
2020, we are rounding out what will be around 44 for employees 
going through COVID. So a little bit about myself. I grew up in 
a small town in Wyoming. I eventually realized that I was good 
at math and about nothing else so I went and became an engineer 
at the School of Mines in South Dakota, and ultimately ended up 
living there. So just a little bit around why this is so 
exciting for me that we are talking about this.
    I graduated South Dakota School of Mines and I really had 
two choices. I could either stay in the place that I had fallen 
in love with and forfeit opportunity, or I could choose to take 
that opportunity and move elsewhere. And like many of my peers, 
a lot of us chose opportunity. So I did what my wife and I like 
to call went and dated the US. We went and lived in six places 
in 9 years, went and tested out every time zone, figured out 
which one we liked, but ultimately ended up back in South 
Dakota. And unfortunately, I had to create my own job to do 
that. So, you know, if we are thinking about as an engineer, 
usually engineers are good problem solvers. I don't know 
necessarily about me, but the thing that I didn't know what how 
to do was really actually start a business. So the first thing 
that you do when you start a company is you say, well, how am I 
going to fund it?
    Well, I went and talked to a few people that were familiar 
with raising money and I asked them, you know, what is needed 
to be done, and the fact that I didn't have an Ivy League 
education or didn't have--haven't done this before, the 
likelihood of raising money was actually just very low, low 
likelihood. So like most entrepreneurs, I am not good at being 
told no. So I figured out how to get the money elsewhere. 
Friends and family is ultimately where I went to, which was a 
little bit of a difficult network to tap.
    At that time, I didn't know very many people that had money 
to loan out or invest. And to later find out, some of them 
actually borrowed the money to invest, which is actually crazy 
in my opinion. And so, you know, so we are managing our 
company, and 2018 was a pretty critical moment for us as a 
company, ended up partnering with a mentor who really helped 
create a fork in where our company was going, turning us from a 
real ragtag group of people, just kind of figuring it out, and 
helping turn us into a scalable operation that people could see 
an investment making some real dividends, making it a real math 
equation to put in a nickel here, get a dollar out there. And 
this was critical for actually going and raising funds, which 
we did go and do. So the mentorship was critical in helping 
navigate this, but it was kind of interesting.
    We had kind of one or two options. Either we could partner 
with a lot of the angel funds in the region, which would have 
taken a lot of different deals to get done--small check sizes 
or work with coastal VCs. Looking--hindsight, even some of the 
things that we navigated there, some of the terms seem pretty 
opportunistic and was really fortunate that we had some good 
advisors to help us navigate that. We ultimately end up 
partnering with an amazing regional fund that has been a great 
asset ever since. So just kind of tell where we are at today as 
a company, started in a couple of basements, like most great 
stories, you know, do. Ended up joining a little bit of an 
incubator. And then we are actually to the point where we are 
building a new 14,000 square foot facility in Downtown Rapid to 
help capture the growth and house all the employment that we 
are doing.
    Again, we are around 44 employees. But the big thing that I 
really want to talk about is this is really a testament of the 
power of a great idea and execution. And if I was to sit here 
and, you know, make sure that there was something kind of left 
with this is if I would have asked the question, could we have 
done this with just capital and not the mentorship we received? 
I would say it would have been doubtful to have the success 
that we have had. And if it was the flip side where we had the 
mentorship and not the capital, do I think it could have been 
done?
    And it would also have been a little doubtful in my mind. 
And so the big thing is really understanding that as we think 
about these things in helping entrepreneurs, how I perceive 
helping entrepreneurs, is really make sure that we have got a 
great infrastructure, both access to capital as well as the 
support network to help grow their business. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Hespen follows:]

     Prepared Statement of Raymond Hespen, Chief Executive Officer 
                     and Co-Founder, Property Meld
    My name is Ray Hespen, and I'm the CEO and co-founder of Property 
Meld, a software company that focuses on maintenance for the property 
management industry. We started our company in 2015 to make property 
maintenance a fantastic experience for everyone--renters, maintenance 
personnel, and property management companies. Our company has grown 
significantly and now helps improve this experience for hundreds of 
thousands of renters and the people who manage the homes. A little 
about my background, I was born in Wyoming and studied to become an 
engineer in South Dakota, and I am fortunate to live there today.
    For context, my family moved across the U.S. before arriving back 
to South Dakota, where we ultimately wanted to live. I never wanted to 
leave the Midwest after college, but like many of my colleagues, we had 
to choose between staying in the area or moving for a better 
opportunity. I chose opportunity. It hasn't been an easy journey, 
moving around six times in nine years. The goal was to gain the skills 
needed to move back into the area. But frankly, I had to create my own 
job in order to move back.
    My company was born to solve a real problem for renters and 
maintenance. I was good at solving problems but turning an idea into a 
business was completely new to me. I specifically remember talking to a 
few fundraising people about raising money initially and was told that 
it wouldn't happen. I was from a no-name school and didn't have the 
credentials or connections of an Ivy-league school.
    As any entrepreneur, I'm not good at being told 'no,' so I started 
tapping my local network. Incredibly and fortunately, I raised some 
money from people who liked me and trusted me. They weren't 
professional investors, and looking back, I'm a bit shocked they did 
invest considering what information we gave at the time.
    Fast-forward, we started to have some success with early-adopters 
in our industry. I specifically remembered a critical pivot in our 
company when we met a key mentor in our growth. He had a fantastic 
resume in software and scaling and brought our haphazard group, and 
helped turn us into a scalable machine. This ultimately helped us 
achieve growth rates that made this an interesting business.
    It was at this point we became a legitimate investment opportunity 
for venture capitalists (VCs). Our new framework helped established the 
structure that would create a path to profitability for us and our 
investors after investment.
    Building the story for those VCs was hugely guided by this mentor. 
Creating the formula for 'insert a nickel here, get a dollar out there' 
but helped coach us to elevate our credibility during the entire 
process.
    The options for fundraising were minimal. It felt like it was 
either regional angel players or venture capitalists from the coasts. 
The angel groups often could only commit to small investments which 
would have required a large contingent if we were to raise enough to 
give us the runway we needed. Alternatively, we could participate with 
the coastal VCs.
    Even during this initial period of fundraising, we received some 
term sheets that, especially in hindsight, felt opportunistic. Since we 
were in South Dakota, we wouldn't notice some egregious terms. Due to 
these mentors' advice, we were able to avoid some pretty serious 
mistakes early in our company. Ultimately, we partnered with a 
fantastic smaller regional capital partner who treated us fairly and 
has been a great asset since the initial investment.
    We started our company in 2015 and had a slow start. By the 
beginning of 2018, we had grown to 4 employees. Since then, we have 
accelerated our job creation and now employ 44 with no signs of slowing 
down. Starting from a basement, moving to a local incubator, and now 
building a 14,000 sq ft beautiful facility in downtown Rapid City, our 
growth is an excellent example of what can be accomplished with the 
right idea and the proper execution. We're having a real impact on our 
local and national economy.
    I ask that we not think of this as only capital. Hopefully, my 
journey is an example of how both mentorship and capital are essential. 
If I ask myself, ``could we have succeeded only with capital?'', I am 
doubtful. Alternatively, if we would have succeeded with only a mentor, 
also doubtful. It is my strong belief that both of these areas are 
critical to the success of entrepreneurs like myself. I hope a 
spotlight on our success will help set some framework and provide 
insight on how we help other entrepreneurs do the same.
    Thank you.

    Senator Thune. Thanks, Mr. Hespen. And I was recruited and 
thought long and hard about going to South Dakota School of 
Mines, and perhaps if I had the background to do what you are 
doing and be an entrepreneur and creating jobs, but I don't 
think I probably have the skill set that you have. So great to 
have you in South Dakota. Next up is Ms. Jan Garfinkle, and she 
is appearing with us virtually. As I mentioned, she is the 
Founder and Managing Partner of Arboretum Ventures. Jan.

   STATEMENT OF JAN GARFINKLE, FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, 
                       ARBORETUM VENTURES

    Ms. Garfinkle. Great. Thank you, Chairman Thune, and 
Ranking Member Schatz, members of the Committee. It is really 
an honor to testify today. As Senator Thune said, I am Jan 
Garfinkle. I am the Founder and Managing Partner of Arboretum 
Ventures, which is located in beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
This hearing has caused me to reflect on how my entrepreneurial 
journey that took place outside of traditional venture capital 
hubs can help your important work. Over the first half of my 
career, I worked at startup medical device companies and 
consulted with health care startups before deciding that I 
wanted to join a venture capital fund. When I couldn't find a 
venture job here in Michigan, I decided to launch my own firm 
and so I went to irs.gov, filed for a tax ID number, and 
started Arboretum Ventures back in 2002.
    Arboretum was founded on the belief that through 
innovation, we can drive cost out of our health care system 
while still providing great clinical care. We have grown from 
our first fund, which was $17 million, to managing now over 
$700 million over five funds, and along the way we have 
invested in more than 50 companies, helped over 8 million 
patients, and currently employ 4,000 high skilled workers, most 
of which are located in the Midwest. In fact, we have a 
portfolio company in half of the states represented by the 
Senators on this Subcommittee. Policymakers are right to ask 
how venture capital and startup activity can be spread to more 
of our country. After all, entrepreneurship is not proprietary 
to the Bay Area, Boston, or New York. There are incredible 
entrepreneurs throughout this country and it is important that 
policy be established to help these entrepreneurs flourish. 
Venture capital is a local, high touch investment into 
entrepreneurial activities, and hence venture firms tend to 
invest in portfolio companies that are in their geographies. 
Unfortunately, the benefits of venture and startup activity are 
not evenly distributed across our country.
    Venture capital is too often seen as a monolith when in 
fact it is really a collection of dozens of regional 
ecosystems. Many look at Silicon Valley and wonder, why is it 
so special? What is so special about it that makes so much 
venture capital investment flow there? Well, Silicon Valley is 
just an excellent example of a highly developed entrepreneurial 
region. It is important to consider how we can curate local 
conditions so entrepreneurs like me and like Ray can create 
successful homegrown startups or venture capital funds in 
under-ventured regions. To flourish, entrepreneurial ecosystems 
outside of coastal hubs need support from the broader venture 
capital industry and policymakers. As the Committee delves 
deeper into this topic, I recommend you work to enact policy 
that supports young, high growth companies that have different 
needs than large companies or traditional small businesses. I 
was deeply involved in such initiatives the last several years, 
serving on the board of the National Venture Capital 
Association, and most recently as its Board Chair. On the 
policy front, I encourage you to prioritize the following areas 
that will support emerging ecosystems.
    First, Senators Young and Schumer have an excellent piece 
of legislation called the Endless Frontiers Act, which is a 
bold commitment to Federal basic research and technical 
commercialization in critical technologies. Many companies are 
spun out of universities and this legislation would help spur 
new activity in emerging ecosystems.
    Second, earlier this year regulators finalized reforms to 
the Volcker Rule. One reform that is very promising to regional 
ecosystems is the ability for banks to once again be investors 
in VC funds. This will open a new source of capital for smaller 
venture funds that are off the coast.
    I encourage you to protect this reform at the Federal 
level. Third, venture-backed startups tackle big problems, and 
it often takes substantial research dollars to solve these 
problems. Hence, they invest millions into the research as they 
develop the product and then until they generate revenue. As a 
result, startups need tax policy that allows them to take 
advantage of tax assets such as net operating losses and R&D 
tax credits that are generated as the company grows. My written 
testimony provides examples of legislation that would achieve 
that goal. It is also imperative that taxes not be increased on 
carried interest, which is the share of capital gains that VC 
fund partners receive if their funds are successful. I can tell 
you from personal experience that carried interest in the 
principal is the principal economic motivator for starting a 
fund in an emerging ecosystem.
    It is important to realize that the fee from small funds is 
not enough to cover expenses, and hence venture founders often 
go without salary for several years, as was my case. And 
finally, the Startup Act is a smart bipartisan legislation from 
Senators Moran, Warner, Klobuchar, and Blunt. One important 
piece of the bill is the creation of a startup visa to pave the 
way for immigrant entrepreneurs to start new companies in the 
U.S. In our own portfolio, approximately one third of our 
startup founders, are immigrant entrepreneurs.
    So to conclude, I greatly appreciate your interest in this 
topic and I look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Garfinkle follows:]

  Prepared Statement of Jan Garfinkle, Founder and Managing Partner, 
 Arboretum Ventures, Board Chair (2019-2020), National Venture Capital 
                              Association
Introduction
    Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Schatz, thank you for the 
opportunity to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee's 
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the 
Internet. The topic of spreading entrepreneurial activity is one I am 
deeply passionate about as I have been investing in early-stage 
healthcare companies for nearly 20 years. I founded Arboretum Ventures 
in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2002 with the goal of enabling meaningful 
healthcare system savings while maintaining excellent clinical 
outcomes. From 2016 until earlier this year, I served on the board of 
directors of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and 
during my last year on the board I served as its board chair. In that 
capacity, I led industry initiatives to encourage the growth of 
emerging startup ecosystems and venture capital in more areas of the 
country.
    As I prepared for this hearing, I reflected on my own 
entrepreneurial journey that took place outside traditional venture 
hubs. I would like to briefly share my personal story, along with my 
experience in the Midwest venture capital (VC) ecosystem and my 
thoughts on how startup success in under-ventured regions leads to a 
virtuous growth cycle.
    I grew up in California and graduated from the University of 
California, Berkeley with a degree in bioengineering. After working for 
Proctor & Gamble in manufacturing and earning my MBA at Wharton, I 
spent 12 exciting years working for two medical device start-ups in the 
Bay Area--both of which were acquired by Eli Lilly and ultimately 
became the foundation of Guidant Corporation. However, while my career 
was advancing, my husband was not happy with his job in San Francisco 
and I became a reluctant trailing spouse as we moved to Ann Arbor, 
Michigan. I had 3 daughters in 18 months, (a single and a double), and 
then started a consulting business focused on local early-stage health 
care companies. After 8 years of consulting, I decided I wanted to work 
in venture capital but was unable to find a venture capital position in 
Ann Arbor. So I went to IRS.gov, filed for a tax ID number, and founded 
Arboretum Ventures in 2002.
    Today, Arboretum is the largest venture capital firm in Michigan, 
with over $700 million under management across five funds. 90 percent 
of our capital is from institutional investors such as pension funds, 
foundations, and endowments. We have invested in more than 50 
companies, helped over 8 million patients, and created over 4,000 jobs, 
most of which are located in the Midwest. In fact, we have at least one 
portfolio company in half the states represented by the Senators on 
this subcommittee. We have had 13 large exits, with 40 percent of those 
being located just a few miles from our office in Ann Arbor.
    I can say from experience that starting a venture capital firm from 
scratch is never easy and is especially challenging in regions outside 
traditional VC hubs such as San Francisco or Boston. There are a number 
of structural barriers that exist in under-ventured regions. The lack 
of investment capital constrains the number of startups that receive 
funding. Subsequent trickle down effects include: a reduction in the 
number of successful exits and secondary reduction of experienced 
employees who know how to scale a company, which then leads to limited 
investment capital due to lack of viable investment targets. This 
downward spiral can be near-insurmountable and requires private and 
public sector support to overcome.
    My firm, Arboretum Ventures, owes a great deal of its success to 
the early support we received from the State of Michigan, both directly 
and indirectly. In 2002, when I founded Arboretum, the Michigan 
Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) decided it wanted to stimulate 
the formation of new venture funds. MEDC ran an RFP process with 17 
competitors, awarding 2 winners with $250,000 each. The $250,000 was to 
cover the costs of raising the fund, but not salaries, and was only 
awarded once the fund had a first close of at least $5 million. We were 
one of the two winners and had a first close on Arboretum's first fund 
of $6 million. We continued to fund raise for the next two years and 
our first fund totaled $17 million. In 2006, Michigan launched the $95 
million Venture Michigan Venture Fund (VMF) to invest in VC firms 
willing to open offices in the state. VMF served as a cornerstone 
investor (limited partner) for Arboretum and persuaded several regional 
funds to open Michigan offices and invest capital in local startups. 
Michigan also created ``SmartZones'' across the state--incubators with 
office space, entrepreneurship training, and other company incubation 
services--and worked alongside private sector organizations to grant 
millions to startups, leading to the creation of hundreds of jobs.
    The actions taken by the state and private partners helped us 
overcome the barriers inherent to under-ventured regions and 
facilitated a culture of entrepreneurship in Michigan. Within 
Arboretum, we have seen how our early successful investments, including 
Ann Arbor-based companies HealthMedia (sold to Johnson & Johnson) and 
HandyLab (acquired by Becton Dickinson) led to additional venture and 
angel investor interest in our region and built an important base of 
local talent. In fact, we recently had our largest exit (i.e., 
completion of a successful investment) ever in NeuMoDx, a company that 
was founded by the two leaders behind HandyLab. Importantly, NeuMoDx is 
a leader in the COVID-19 testing market. More broadly, Michigan 
recently had one of its largest venture exits in cybersecurity, Duo 
Security, which was founded by employees from a previous Ann Arbor 
startup (Arbor Networks). This recycling effect is what propels local 
ecosystems forward.
    The burgeoning venture ecosystem in Michigan has also highlighted 
that regions outside traditional hubs have unique advantages. With the 
lower cost of living, companies can be more capital efficient. In fact, 
the average Midwest startup only requires two-thirds of the funding an 
equivalent Bay Area company would need to reach a successful exit. We 
are also proud of the diversity in our region; Ann Arbor has one of the 
highest rates of women-founded VC startups in the U.S.
    In my recent role as NVCA board chair, I was able to leverage my 
experiences and learnings from Michigan and became deeply involved in 
industry-wide efforts to build out emerging ecosystems off the coasts. 
Two examples of this, which I discuss in more detail below, are Venture 
Capital University and the recent change to the Volcker Rule, both of 
which greatly impact funds off the coasts. In addition, NVCA recently 
created Venture Forward, a 501(c)(3) that focuses on education, 
diversity, and inclusion, and ensuring best practices are shared 
nationwide, in essence breaking down the information barriers that 
provide incumbent regions built-in advantages over emerging ecosystems.
    Michigan, the Midwest, and other under-ventured areas still have a 
long way to go before they can match the entrepreneurial maturity of 
the coastal hubs. In 2020, only 26 active VC firms were headquartered 
in Michigan \1\. Further, while the amount of venture capital assets 
managed by investors based in Michigan has grown steadily from $840 
million in 2005 to over $4.3 billion in 2020, the amount managed by 
Michigan investors today represents just one-half of one percent of the 
Nation's total venture capital assets under management.\2\ These 
statistics notwithstanding, accelerating the startup ecosystems in 
Michigan and other under-ventured regions is more important than ever 
considering how globalization and new industrial rivals have shuttered 
hometown employers' doors and left many communities struggling. The 
global economy is changing fast and communities across the country must 
modernize and adapt or the challenges this country faces in terms of 
access to opportunity, competitiveness, and economic growth will only 
worsen. Purposeful and strategic policy efforts on the part of public 
and private-sector leaders can help these communities thrive in the new 
tech and knowledge-driven economy as the old economy fades from view.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ 2020 MVCA Research Report, Michigan Venture Capital 
Association, available at https://michiganvca.org/wp-content/uploads/
2020/04/2020-MVCA-Research-Report-Final-version-from-EntryPoint-low-
resolution.pdf
    \2\ NVCA 2020 Yearbook, data provided by PitchBook.
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Impact of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
    Entrepreneurship has set the United States apart as the most 
dynamic economy in the world. The Kauffman Foundation found that new 
companies were responsible for nearly all net new job creation, and 
companies less than one year old have created an average of 1.5 million 
jobs per year over the past three decades.\3\ Venture capital has 
played an instrumental role in startup activity, having backed iconic 
American companies like Genentech and Google, to more recent creations 
Zoom and Moderna.\4\ A research paper produced by Stanford University 
found that of the 1,339 companies that went public between 1974 and 
2015, 42 percent trace their roots to venture capital.\5\ Those 
venture-backed companies account for an astounding 85 percent of all 
research and development spending by companies that have gone public 
since 1974.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ The Importance of Young Firms for Economic Growth, Kauffman 
Foundation, available at https://www.kauffman.org/resources/
entrepreneurship-policy-digest/the-importance-of-young-firms-for-
economic-growth/
    \4\ Jeff Farrah (NVCA Blog), Creating the Next Moderna: What VC 
Offers the World and 3 Public Policy Lessons, available at https://
nvca.org/creating-the-next-moderna-what-vc-offers-the-world-and-3-
public-policy-lessons/.
    \5\ How Much Does Venture Capital Drive the U.S. Economy?, Stanford 
Graduate School of Business (October 2015), available at https://
www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/how-much-does-venture-capital-drive-us-
economy. 2 Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Venture-backed startup activity has historically been dominant in a 
handful of science and technology hubs, including northern California, 
Massachusetts, and New York. In recent years, new regions have come on 
the scene and show great promise for new company creation. A recent 
NVCA report found that

        Venture funding reached startups in all 50 states and the 
        District of Columbia, 242 Metropolitan Statistical Areas 
        (MSAs), and 397 Congressional Districts. Buffalo, NY, Boise 
        City, ID, and Richmond, VA saw the biggest growth rate for 
        annual number of VC investments over the past five years (for 
        those MSAs with at least 15 in 2019). Bend, OR, Rochester, NY, 
        and Grand Rapids, MI saw the largest annual growth for VC 
        investment over the past five years (for those MSAs with at 
        least $10 million VC investment in 2014 and 2019).

    These are welcome developments for those of us who have worked to 
establish emerging startup ecosystems. As an investor in Michigan, I 
have been actively involved in encouraging these emerging ecosystems to 
deliver the benefits of startup activity to more areas of the country. 
I believe that policymakers, such as members of this committee, can 
partner with local investors and entrepreneurs to speed progress.
Understanding the Workings of Local Startup Ecosystems
    Before getting into Federal policy proposals that can spur greater 
entrepreneurial activity across the country, I would like to explain 
some of the workings of local startup ecosystems. Brad Feld, a VC in 
Colorado who was an early leader in the growth of one of the most 
successful noncoastal startup ecosystems in the country, succinctly 
listed the various components of local ecosystems in his book Startup 
Communities.\6\ The most important component, of course, are the 
entrepreneurs, as without those individuals willing to take monumental 
risks nothing else matters. The other components are local and state 
governments, universities, investors, mentors, large companies, and 
service providers (meaning law firms, accounting firms, banks and 
others experienced in new company formation and growth). Each of these 
components must be present and prioritize supporting the entrepreneurs 
in the community in order to achieve success and further growth in 
their communities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Brad Feld, Startup Communities, available at https://
www.amazon.com/Startup-Communities-Building-Entrepreneurial-Ecosystem/
dp/1531886035.
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    While entrepreneurs are the most important, VCs are the glue that 
brings this all together. We raise the funds, develop relationships 
with other components of ecosystems, and help our portfolio companies 
in their engagement with these entities. We are stewards of our 
ecosystems, and our success or failure is a leading indicator to 
investors in our funds of whether to deploy more capital to our 
communities. Individual entrepreneurs come and go and hopefully their 
companies are either acquired or go public and become incumbents 
themselves. But while our portfolio companies either move up or out, 
VCs only remain if we are successful. We can then raise another fund 
and get to work finding a new set of startups.
    Startup ecosystems are inherently local constructs. In emerging 
ecosystems, many of the participants and much of the earliest stage 
capital come from within the community where the startup is founded. As 
I noted above, nearly half of Arboretum's biggest exits happened within 
a short distance of our office. This is important to keep in mind 
because it underpins my thesis for how to expand economic opportunity 
in this country: prioritize policies that can empower local ecosystems 
and facilitate success for more startups and local VC funds.
    Often, venture capital is confused with hedge fund investing, which 
through its focus on public companies has a more national and global 
perspective. It is easier to invest in mature companies across the 
country as investors can rely on revenues and other metrics to 
determine whether to invest. But startups have few, if any, predictable 
metrics. Our work as VCs is just beginning when we find promising 
companies. Once the first investment is made, we must then work closely 
with the management team on long-term strategy, plans to access further 
capital, efforts to bring professional structure to the company, and 
pretty much anything else that we can do to help achieve success. In 
fact, sometimes venture capital investments are made on the promise of 
the team as opposed to the technology, with the hope that we as VCs can 
help them find their full potential even if the initial idea is weak. 
It will often take 5-10 years of working with the entrepreneur, usually 
at the board level, to create a successful company.
    Focusing on areas off the coasts can have substantial impacts on 
the local economy, and as successes occur, can create management teams 
that continue to start new companies in the same geography. As an 
example, in 2004 we invested in HandyLab, a diagnostic company founded 
by two University of Michigan PhD students. Five years later it sold to 
Becton Dickinson. Those two founders, along with the CEO, then went on 
to start three more healthcare companies that, over the next ten years, 
also became successful and sold to other large companies. The most 
recent diagnostic company, NeuMoDx developed by this team, has shipped 
over a million COVID-19 tests worldwide. The original two founders have 
created a critical mass of health care entrepreneurs in Michigan, with 
a substantial number of employees creating new technologies that 
greatly improve the treatment for patients worldwide.
    Another important factor of the success of the companies off the 
coasts, is being able to attract new capital to that company from large 
coastal investors. It is important to note that for every $1 invested 
in a Michigan startup by a Michigan VC firm, an additional $45 of 
investment is attracted from VCs outside of Michigan. An example of 
this is from one of our earliest investments, Advanced ICU Care (AICU). 
AICU provides remote monitoring of patients in the ICU, i.e., it is a 
high-acuity telehealth provider headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. 
We led the first round of investment into AICU to get it off the 
ground, and at the time the company only remotely monitored 22 ICU 
beds. As the company thrived, two large coastal investors led the next 
rounds of financings. Today, AICU serves nearly 100 hospitals and 
health systems, monitors over 1,100 beds, and cares for over 95,000 
patients annually. Notably, AICU has taken a central role in the COVID 
crisis by helping hospitals manage their overwhelmed ICU units.
    Building a successful new company is a herculean task where hard 
work, skill, great ideas, and even a bit of luck are all required. Many 
entrepreneurs do everything right and still do not make it in the end. 
That is how difficult it can be to find success in entrepreneurship. In 
order to facilitate growth in emerging ecosystems, all of the 
components of startup communities must work together to prioritize the 
success of startups. Many will nonetheless fail, but even one success 
can create momentum to remake the long-term prospects of an entire 
region.
    A single successful startup exit can have multiple repercussions 
for a regional economy. The exit puts the region on the map for 
investors as a viable opportunity, the founders of the company often 
become angel investors or VCs themselves, coaching and investing in the 
next crop of entrepreneurs, and the VCs who were involved with the 
company get a greater chance to raise another fund and invest in a new 
set of local companies. Further, the company can become an important 
part of the ecosystem, becoming an acquirer of locally produced 
technology, as well as a source of potential entrepreneurs who work at 
an incumbent before striking out on their own.
    Facilitating startup success in local communities is the single 
most powerful way to expand startup activity in a region. At Arboretum 
Ventures, we went from that initial investment of $250,000 to being the 
largest VC firm in the state, and we have created thousands of jobs 
across the Midwest and brought dozens of new technologies to advance 
American healthcare. But if our first fund had been unsuccessful, that 
economic activity may never have happened.
Policy Recommendations to Support Emerging Startup Ecosystems
    Early-stage companies and their investors are very sensitive to 
policy changes, and perhaps emerging ecosystem participants are even 
more so. Members of this committee can support entrepreneurs in their 
state through the following policy proposals.
Technology Commercialization and Endless Frontier Act
    As discussed above, commercialization of university research is a 
tried-and-true way to create new companies and deliver benefits to a 
university and taxpayers. Universities like Stanford and the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have nearly perfected 
technology transfer, which has been a driver of entrepreneurship in 
northern California and Massachusetts. For example, as a result of its 
robust tech transfer practices, Stanford held equity in 203 companies 
as a result of licensing agreements as of August 2019.\7\ In Fiscal 
Year 2019, ``Stanford received $49.3 million in gross royalty revenue 
from 875 technologies.'' \8\ These companies are major drivers of 
economic activity in Stanford's region. Sadly, many other highly 
regarded universities fail to commercialize technology as effectively. 
The mentality of too many universities is that technology developed on 
their campus is a nugget of gold that demands the highest upfront price 
possible, and little thought is given to the long-term benefits of 
establishing a pipeline of technologies that entrepreneurs, VCs, and 
angel investors can develop. In this scenario, everyone ends up with 
less gold. Policymakers can advocate with their local universities to 
engage with the entrepreneurial community to smooth the path to greater 
commercialization.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing, 2019 Annual 
Report, https://web.stanford.edu/group/OTL/lagan/
FY2019%20Annual%20Report/Stanford%20OTL-AR-2019.pdf.
    \8\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition, Congress should pass pro-innovation policies such as 
the Endless Frontier Act, which reprioritizes a commitment to Federal 
basic research investment and technology commercialization efforts in 
emerging and critical technologies, such as artificial intelligence, 
quantum computing, clean energy, and biotechnology. The legislation 
recognizes the importance of innovation advancement occurring in 
communities across the U.S. and leverages partnerships between 
universities, business leaders, and other private sector entities to 
encourage greater economic activity through development and 
commercialization of technology.
    To ensure success of the Endless Frontier Act and future proposals, 
I strongly encourage lawmakers to focus on new company formation, 
ensure the participation of both angel and venture capital investors, 
and improve and simplify university technology commercialization 
processes.
Protect Volcker Rule Reform
    Earlier this year, Federal regulators finalized reforms to the 
Volcker Rule, among them being a critical change that allows banks to 
once again invest in local venture capital funds. This change will 
encourage greater capital formation in emerging ecosystems. VC funds 
were an unintentional victim of an overly broad definition of ``covered 
fund,'' which intended to prevent banks from moving risky proprietary 
trading from their balance sheets to sponsored funds for which they 
would still be liable for losses. Prior to passage of Dodd-Frank, banks 
played an important role investing in local VC funds that were 
generally too small to attract attention from larger institutional 
investors. Oftentimes, banks served as anchor investors in these funds, 
and were critical to the VCs ability to attract additional investment 
and deploy capital in promising local startups.\9\ The regulators' 
action to open a new source of capital for venture capital funds is a 
meaningful change, particularly for new and emerging funds, local 
entrepreneurs, and startup communities. In fact, early interest in 
utilizing this new capital following the recent October implementation 
signals a long-term positive outcome for regional entrepreneurial 
ecosystems.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ Charlotte Savercool (NVCA Blog), ``Let Banks Invest in Venture 
Capital Funds Once Again'' November 15, 2018, available at https://
nvca.org/let-banks-invest-venture-capital-funds/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As lawmakers consider initiatives to encourage entrepreneurial 
activity and growth throughout the country, I strongly encourage 
continued support for this meaningful reform and opposition to any 
efforts, through regulatory action or legislatively, to reverse the 
change.
Startup Tax Policy
    The innovative startup model generally uses investment capital to 
focus on research and growth activities to create long-term value. 
Investments in these activities often exceeds revenues for years while 
trying to build an idea into a successful company. This basic model of 
entrepreneurship necessarily generates net operating losses (NOLs) and 
research and development tax credits that should be available to offset 
income if the company becomes profitable. But because of the way 
certain rules in the tax code under Sections 382 and 383 are written, 
startups can lose the value of these tax assets for nothing more than 
raising a new financing round or undergoing an IPO, which was never the 
intent of the rules. For startups on a hypergrowth trajectory, this may 
not matter much, but for startups in sectors where large research 
dollars are required before any substantial revenue is generated and 
thus have lower growth trajectories, these NOLs and tax credits can be 
important for their future success.
    The loss of the value of tax assets creates a significant drag on 
startup values and venture returns in these areas and makes noncoastal 
startup and technology investment in general less attractive. 
Fortunately, there are several proposals introduced in Congress that 
would help to solve this problem and protect startup tax assets, 
improving the key metric for expanding startup activity, which is 
improving financial returns:

   American Innovation Act (Rep. Vern Buchanan) would create a 
        conditional safe harbor for startups from Section 382 and 383;

   IGNITE American Innovation Act (Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) 
        and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) would allow growth companies to 
        monetize up to $25 million in NOLs and R&D credits in order to 
        provide liquidity to innovative startups to sustain their 
        activity through the economic crisis;

   American Innovation and Jobs Act (Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) 
        and Todd Young (R-IN) would expand the ability of startups to 
        offset payroll tax obligations with accumulated R&D credits.
Carried Interest
    A tax increase on carried interest capital gains would have its 
most damaging impact on small VC funds. As background, carried interest 
is the share of capital gains that VC fund partners receive if their 
funds are successful. For those that manage small VC funds, carried 
interest may be the only economic reason to participate in venture 
capital, as fees are often too small to even cover salaries. That was 
the case in my story, where I went without salary for several years 
because we did not have enough fee to all of our expenses, including 5 
employees, rent, travel, accounting, and legal bills. In addition, the 
long lifespan of VC funds make realizations of carried interest less 
frequent than shorter-term investment classes. If taxes are increased 
on carried interest, the impact will fall most heavily on small 
regional funds, and in particular new fund formation. A lack of new VC 
funds will counteract any positive policies passed by the government as 
these are the glue needed when building up local ecosystems.
Startup Act
    Introduced by Senators Moran, Warner, Blunt, and Klobuchar, the 
Startup Act has been an effective vessel in recent years for carrying 
pro-startup policies. For example, the Startup Act included tax 
policies (now in law) that made the R&D tax credit useful to early-
stage companies. In addition to a number of other good ideas, the 
Startup Act includes a crucial ``startup visa'' that is a dedicated 
visa category for immigrant entrepreneurs. Foreign-born entrepreneurs 
have made incredible contributions to the U.S., having founded iconic 
American companies like HandyLab, Moderna, Tesla, and Intel. These 
accomplishments are in spite of immigration policy; not because of it. 
Presently, U.S. immigration law pushes away entrepreneurs who want to 
launch high-growth companies in our country, as we do not have a 
dedicated visa for foreign-born entrepreneurs like more than a dozen 
other countries do.\10\ This means that immigrants who wish to create 
new American companies must struggle to fit into other visa categories 
that are not designed with the entrepreneurial model in mind. Emerging 
ecosystems would benefit significantly from fresh entrepreneurial 
talent brought in by a startup visa.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ Jeff Farrah (NVCA Blog) ``Immigration Policy Isn't Working for 
the Economy. Let's Fix That.'' Available at https://nvca.org/
immigration-policy-isnt-working-economy-lets-fix/.
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Modernization of the SEC Definition of VC Fund/DEAL Act
    Modernizing the SEC's definition of a venture capital fund to allow 
VCs to acquire more shares from angel investors, seed stage investors, 
and company founders without additional regulatory requirements would 
increase liquidity and returns in the early-stage startup ecosystem. 
Further, modernization of the definition could encourage venture 
capital funds to become anchor investors in emerging VC funds, a 
substantial opportunity for new and underrepresented fund managers 
similar to the role that banks can now play after changes to the 
Volcker Rule. These changes are especially important today as industry 
data demonstrates a significant decline in first-time and seed 
financings during the ongoing global pandemic.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ NVCA Venture Monitor Q2 2020, available at https://
pitchbook.com/news/reports/q2-2020-pitchbook-nvca-venture-monitor.
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    Leadership from Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Representatives Trey 
Hollingsworth (R-IN) and Ben McAdams (D-UT) provides a bipartisan 
legislative solution to this challenge through the Developing and 
Empowering our Aspiring Leaders (DEAL) Act. Action on this bill would 
positively impact the venture capital industry, especially among early-
stage investors who help form the foundations of an emerging 
entrepreneurial region.
Industry Initiatives and Ways Policymakers Can Support Emerging 
        Ecosystems
    Beyond policy advocacy, the venture industry--led by NVCA--is 
engaged in important initiatives to spread new company formation into 
more pockets of the country. For example, I was pleased to serve on 
NVCA's board when Venture Capital University (VCU) was created \12\ to 
democratize access to venture education and increase diversity in the 
venture industry.\13\ VCU has two components--VC University LIVE and VC 
University ONLINE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\ VCU is jointly produced by NVCA, Venture Forward (the 
501(c)(3) supporting organization to NVCA), and Startup@Berkeley at the 
University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
    \13\ More information about VCU is available at https://
venturecapitaluniversity.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    VC University LIVE is a three-day educational program on venture 
finance, held in partnership with universities across the country. The 
program shines a spotlight on emerging ecosystems and expands the focus 
on VC beyond traditional venture hubs. VC University LIVE served more 
than 120 participants across its first two programs at the University 
of Michigan and Tulane University in 2019. In November 2020, VC 
University LIVE was held virtually with Southern Methodist University 
(Dallas), with more than 60 participants.\14\ Full scholarships are 
core to VC University LIVE. The most recent program provided 24 full 
scholarships to individuals from historically underrepresented groups, 
with the cohort composed of: 54 percent women, 29 percent Black or 
indigenous people of color (BIPOC), 38 percent Hispanic, and 75 percent 
based outside the three traditional VC geographic hubs. The next VC 
University LIVE program will be held in partnership with the University 
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in June 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ Press Release: SMU and UNC-Chapel Hill Announced as 2020-21 VC 
University LIVE Hosts, available at https://nvca.org/pressreleases/smu-
and-unc-chapel-hill-announced-as-2020-21-vc-university-live-hosts
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Similarly, VC University ONLINE provides lectures, interactive 
assessments and quizzes, office hours, interviews with leading VCs, and 
monthly webinars, all of which teach participants the nuts and bolts of 
venture finance through a virtual setting and the opportunity to earn a 
certificate of completion. To date, the course has had five cohorts, 
offering education to more than 740 individuals across the country, 
including close to 100 full scholarships and 47 partial scholarships 
provided to individuals from historically underrepresented groups. The 
demographics of the most recent scholarship cohort is composed of 63 
percent women, 73 percent BIPOC, and 75 percent based outside 
California, Massachusetts, or New York.
    Policymakers can help spur entrepreneurial activity by meeting with 
entrepreneurs and investors in your local communities to understand 
their specific needs. Often, a given city has special attributes that 
may be leveraged to create new companies--perhaps a region benefits 
from a strong academic department at a local university, such as the 
exceptional robotics department at Carnegie Mellon that has led to the 
university's partnership with Uber and positions the Pittsburgh area 
well for economic growth. Each region must benefit from that which sets 
it apart from others. Policymakers can serve as a bridge between the 
various communities that are essential for a vibrant entrepreneurial 
ecosystem.
    As referenced previously, venture capitalists must raise a fund 
from LPs. Large venture funds on the coasts tend to raise capital from 
endowments and pensions that are motivated to write larger checks to 
the funds in which they invest. Regional funds tend to be smaller and 
therefore struggle to raise capital from LPs that want to invest larger 
sums to meet their scale. Therefore, regional funds look to wealthy 
individuals, family offices, and regional and local banks to invest in 
their funds. Too frequently, local business leaders do not consider 
regional venture funds as an investment opportunity and are more 
inclined to invest their capital in public securities, real estate, or 
funds outside the local area. A shift in mentality is needed among 
these leaders to support emerging ecosystems. Policymakers can serve as 
champions for their local ecosystems to surface the exciting 
opportunities that exist to earn a return and create local economic 
opportunity.
Conclusion
    I am grateful for this committee's attention to this important 
issue. Ultimately, there is much to be excited about regarding emerging 
startup ecosystems in diverse geographies. A combination of policy 
reforms and industry-led initiatives by national and local leaders will 
bring these regions to their true promise and the true beneficiary of 
this progress will be American patients, workers, and taxpayers.

    Senator Thune. Thank you, Ms. Garfinkle. Next up, and I 
think she is probably going to make us all jealous because she 
is coming to us from Hawaii, is Ms. Dawn Lippert, who is the 
Chief Executive Officer of Elemental Excelerator.

 STATEMENT OF DAWN LIPPERT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ELEMENTAL 
                          EXCELERATOR

    Ms. Lippert. Hello, Chairman Thune. Thank you so much. 
Hello, Ranking Member Schatz, Senator Klobuchar, and members of 
the Committee. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify 
before you today. As you noted, my name is Dawn Lippert, 
Founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator based here in 
Honolulu. We are a nonprofit made up of 35 people in Honolulu, 
Hawaii, and East Palo Alto, California. We work at the 
intersection of climate innovation and social equity. And our 
mission is to invest in solutions to climate change and deploy 
these solutions in the communities that need them the most. We 
are both urgent and optimistic in rising to this challenge 
because entrepreneurs and communities are proving it is 
possible every day. So let me show you the context for how 
Elemental came about.
    In 2008, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative was launched by 
the state of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of Energy. Hawaii 
was seen as an ideal place to create jobs and economic 
opportunities as we transition to clean energy. And Federal 
funding at that time was set aside for innovation, which seeded 
the creation of Elemental Excelerator. We were initially 
modeled after the RPE program at a Department of Energy. Now, 
what is special about this is the idea that innovation centers 
can be located anywhere in the country and that all innovation 
didn't have to emanate from Washington, D.C. or these other 
tech centers.
    They can come from Cedar Falls, from Minneapolis, Kansas 
City, Austin, Nashville, Anderson, Indiana, where we have 
entrepreneurs, and my hometown of Seattle, Washington. Now at 
Elemental we have raised over $95 million to invest in startups 
and be able to create an innovation hub in Hawaii over the last 
10 years, supporting hundreds of jobs and high wage 
opportunities for youth, veterans, and really anyone who wants 
to work in innovation. And this can be done anywhere. And 
particularly in energy and climate technology, the market is 
the best it has ever been and venture capitalists are taking 
notice. Let me share a few examples of how we know about that 
and where we see some bright spots in the space.
    First, there are more and more investors entering the 
climate technology space. Over $13 billion was invested in 2019 
and we may exceed that in 2020 even with COVID. This has more 
than doubled since 2016. And in 2020 alone, more than $4 
billion of new funds have been formed for climate venture 
capital. This includes funds from Amazon, the Climate Pledge 
Fund, as well as Microsoft and others. And we expect this fund 
formation in venture capital to accelerate in 2021. And this 
makes sense because energy is one of the biggest markets in the 
world and decarbonization will require over $2 trillion of 
annual investment.
    Twelve years ago, testifying before the Senate, John Doerr, 
the venture capitalist from Kleiner Perkins called green 
technology ``the mother of all markets,'' and this is even more 
true now than it was 12 years ago. There are now 1,000 
corporations who have pledged to reduce their emissions in line 
with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Reductions, and 
the pace of new corporations making commitments has accelerated 
in each of the last 3 years. These corporations are key 
customers for venture capital backed companies, so investors 
see the opportunity here. Second, as these companies grow, they 
create good jobs that are beyond typical innovation jobs. These 
are jobs installing solar and energy efficiency, or working on 
transportation electrification.
    Also, law firms, accountants and other parts of the 
economy. In Hawaii alone, jobs and solar installation, energy 
efficiency and renewable fuels totaled over 15,000 in 2016. And 
these jobs are good paying jobs. They pay an average of $3 to 
$7 higher than the state's median wage. And the jobs have 
largely been able to endure through the pandemic. And third, 
the reason we know this market is taking off is that winning in 
climate technology is about American competitiveness. In the 
last 5 years, $56 billion have been invested in clean 
technology venture capital.
    Now, 45 percent of that was in North America, but 45 
percent of that was in Asia. Asia is gaining ground really 
quickly on our venture capital ecosystem in clean technology. 
And it is not just venture capital that is investing in this 
part of our economy. Last year, six times this amount, so over 
$300 billion was invested in project finance for clean energy 
technology. So we know the market is taking off, but how can we 
ensure that the economic and entrepreneurial opportunity that 
is ahead extends beyond our Nation's traditional technology 
hubs? In our first two years of funding startups, as Senator 
Schatz mentioned, we funded over 115 startups from many of the 
states in the Nation as well as from around the world.
    And we have learned an important lesson, and this is that 
companies need more than funding to succeed, they require a 
strong ecosystem around them. And that is what has historically 
drawn companies to Silicon Valley and other technology hubs. 
But we have proven it is possible to build technology hubs 
elsewhere, especially if they are sector based and focused on 
the region's core competitive advantages. So based on our 
experience meeting 5,000 early stage companies, and working 
with over 115 very closely through investments, we see a few 
key roles for the Federal Government in expanding 
entrepreneurship beyond the traditional hubs.
    The first is seeding regional innovation ecosystems. At 
Elemental, every public dollar we have invested into startups 
has brought in more than $40 in private capital. There are 
currently policy proposals pending to create national 
innovation pilot funds in the U.S. Department of Energy for 
clean technology solutions in disadvantaged communities. There 
is also policy proposals to enhance and accelerate a national 
initiative to support regional clean energy innovation 
ecosystem partners with $25 million across regional ecosystems. 
This kind of seed funding for regional ecosystems can have huge 
returns in terms of bringing in private capital and private 
investment. Second, we could ensure that Federal policy 
supports innovation.
    Policy sets the stage and the rules for many of the--
[Technical Issue]--that we work in, such as energy, water, 
agriculture, and mobility. One example in mobility is that 
building our Nation's zero emissions transportation 
infrastructure can create 1.4 million new jobs. And these are 
jobs all over the United States, not concentrated in technology 
hubs. There is a lot of opportunity in transportation. Right 
now, there are 1.2 billion passenger vehicles on the road, but 
only 1 percent of those miles are driven in electric vehicles. 
And we know progress is possible. That is why today Tesla has a 
market capitalization more than 10 times that of General 
Motors. There is a lot of room to grow in electric vehicle 
transportation.
    Also in mobility, measures such as the accessibility 
performance measure for the U.S. Department of Transportation, 
which its legislation has pending in Congress, would change the 
allocation of DOT funding to focus transportation funding on 
what counts, getting people where they need to go instead of 
funding increased highway speed. This kind of legislation will 
unlock a huge wave of innovation across our country as 
companies focus on how to increase access to mobility. And a 
couple more examples of how government has such an important 
role to play in setting the policy framework for innovation. In 
aviation, just a couple of weeks ago, our portfolio company 
Ampaire completed the longest flight ever taken by an 
electrified aircraft.
    The demonstration we are funding with them makes Ampaire 
the first to also fly a hybrid electric aircraft on an 
operational route between Kahului and Hana Maui. Electric 
aircraft can cut fuel costs by more than half, and speeding up 
this kind of innovation can help small airlines stay in 
business in a challenging economic environment. The huge amount 
of innovation we have seen in airplanes over the last three to 
four years were unleashed by updated FAA regulations. And every 
time we have supported a policy like this, it unleashes an 
enormous wave of private capital. In the last 5 years, just 10 
of the leading electric aviation startups have raised more than 
$1.2 billion.
    There are many other examples of how government can support 
innovation, but I just want to share that now is the time to 
invest in American entrepreneurship and competitiveness. The 
stage is set for regional innovation to thrive and with 
strategic government support, we can do even more together. 
Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Lippert follows:]

     Prepared Statement of Dawn Lippert, Chief Executive Officer, 
                         Elemental Excelerator
    Hello, Chairman Thune, Ranking Member Schatz, Senator Klobuchar and 
members of the Committee. Thank you so much for the opportunity to 
testify before you today. My name is Dawn Lippert and I am the CEO of 
Elemental Excelerator.
About Elemental Excelerator
    Elemental Excelerator is a non-profit growth-stage accelerator 
program headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii and East Palo Alto, 
California. We accelerate solutions to climate change and deploy them 
in communities that need them the most. Each year, we find 15-20 
companies that best fit our mission and fund each company up to $1 
million to improve systems that impact people's lives through project 
deployment. We have focused on funding projects in three locations that 
will be central to addressing climate change: Hawai'i, California's 
frontline communities, and the Asia Pacific region. We are now 
expanding this approach across the U.S. and globally. To date, we have 
reviewed over 5,000 new technologies, awarded over $40 million to over 
115 companies, and have deployed 70 projects in energy, mobility, 
agriculture, water, and the circular economy.
    In 2008, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) was enacted by 
the State of Hawaii and U.S. Department of Energy and funding was set 
aside for innovation. Stakeholders realized that in order to reach 
those energy goals and transform an economy dependent on oil, we needed 
innovative solutions. We initially modeled our program after ARPA-E, 
where I staffed the very first call for technologies. In our first 
couple of years, we saw that startups needed much more than funding to 
succeed, and became interested in applying the new ``accelerator'' 
thinking to climate startups. Back in the early 2010s, there were tech 
accelerators helping the Airbnbs and Instacarts of the world create new 
markets. But none of these accelerators were supporting hardware or 
climate technology.
    We saw that as an opportunity to build one. We zeroed in on growth-
stage companies who were ready to deploy their technology for two 
reasons: (1) there was a gap in available project funding to bring the 
innovations being developed in a lab into the real world, and (2) we 
saw the opportunity for the most learning and progress in bringing 
together technology (startups), policy (government), and markets 
(customers) to advance innovation. That led to what is now Elemental 
Excelerator.
    Elemental not only invests in startups with the potential to 
address climate change, but we also co-fund projects alongside the 
startups we invest in. We'd like to share two examples of projects 
we've supported:

   CarbonCure Technologies collaborated with HDOT and Hawaii 
        concrete producers to install its retrofit technology that 
        chemically mineralizes waste CO2 during the concrete 
        manufacturing process to make greener and stronger concrete. 
        The carbon-infused concrete from those producers was used in a 
        local infrastructure project saving 1,500 lbs. of carbon 
        dioxide, offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions from 1,600 
        miles of highway driving. Following this project, in April 
        2019, Honolulu, Hawaii became the first municipality to pass a 
        resolution that ``requests the city administration to consider 
        using carbon dioxide mineralization concrete for all future 
        city infrastructure projects utilizing concrete.''

   SOURCE (formerly Zero Mass Water) worked with an indigenous 
        majority-owned and -managed business called Waddi Springs to 
        prove a new community scale water purchase agreement in 
        drought-ridden Queensland, Australia. With our funding, SOURCE 
        was able to deploy 600 hydropanels in the span of 4 months 
        where a conventional water treatment plant would've taken at 
        least a decade. This project has the capacity to produce 
        119,000 gallons of drinking water and displace approximately 
        748,000 plastic water bottles per year and also created new 
        workforce opportunities for native Aboriginals in the area. 
        SOURCE is now pursuing a similar project in the Philippines 
        armed with the learnings from their project and partnered with 
        an Elemental innovation partner.

    Over the past 10 years, we have raised over $95M for Elemental to 
invest in startups and been able to create an innovation hub in Hawaii. 
The portfolio supports hundreds of jobs and high-wage opportunities for 
youth, veterans, and others who want to work in innovation. We have 
worked with some of the world's largest utilities and corporations, as 
well as public-sector partners like the Navy and social change 
organizations like Emerson Collective to commercialize these world-
changing technologies. In 2017, we launched a cohort of local 
businesses that are committed to innovation throughout Hawaii. These 
are groups interested in the insights we glean from deploying 
transformative projects in our place, and have dedicated their time and 
energy to building an innovation ecosystem in Hawaii with us. And our 
model is not just unique to Hawaii. After a successful partnership in 
Hawaii with Elemental Excelerator, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) 
was able to replicate their successes by funding Launch Alaska 
headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. We have proven that our platform 
can be replicated anywhere and that innovation does not have to emanate 
from big tech cities.
The Energy and Climate Technology Market
    The energy and climate technology market is the strongest it has 
ever been with climate tech investment growing 3 times faster than 
investments in artificial intelligence and 5 times faster than the 
average growth of general venture capital. In 2019, over $13B was 
invested into climate technology and we expect to exceed that number in 
2020 even with the impacts of COVID-19. This figure is more than double 
what it was in 2016. In 2020 alone, more than $4B of new funds have 
been formed for the climate venture capital market and we expect this 
growth to accelerate in 2021. Twelve years ago, John Doerr, the 
chairman of Kleiner Perkins, testified before this very body called 
green technology the ``mother of all markets.'' This is even more true 
now than it was then. There are now over 1000 corporations who have 
pledged to reduce their emissions with IPCC recommendations and the 
pace of new corporations making commitments has accelerated in the past 
three years. Energy is one of the biggest markets in the world, and 
decarbonization will require over $2 trillion a year of investment 
according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This 
is a marker of real opportunity for investors and a space for startups 
to enter the market.
    As startups grow, they create good jobs such as installing solar 
and energy efficiency, working on transportation electrification, and 
creating work for law firms, accountants, and a host of other jobs for 
the local economy. In Hawaii alone, jobs in solar installation, energy 
efficiency, and renewable fuel production totaled over 15,000 in 2016, 
paying an average of $3 to $7/hour higher than the state's median wage. 
Prior to the pandemic, the clean energy sector was one of the fastest 
growing sectors in the United States expecting to add 175,000 jobs in 
2020. Most of these jobs are geographically specific, and centered in 
rural and suburban areas rather than just the major tech hubs. 
Investing in energy efficiency, clean energy deployment, and other 
decarbonization technology creates good jobs and new economic 
opportunities in places that need it the most.
COVID-19 & Geographic Diversity
    In September of 2020, about 14 percent of the Nation's energy 
workers were still unable to return to work. It is imperative that we 
support job growth beyond the 175,000 that was expected in 2020 to 
support the economic recovery from the pandemic.
    Technology, and specifically climate technology, provide a powerful 
opportunity for job creation outside of typical tech hubs. The pandemic 
has created an opening for many tech companies to go fully remote and 
normalize business over e-mail and video calls. By virtually expanding 
their geographic footprints, firms can widen their talent pool and 
recruit from a variety of schools, regions, and backgrounds to create a 
diverse and inclusive workplace.
    Embracing remote work helps to level the playing field, shifting 
the tech industry's concentration of talent that was deemed a necessary 
condition for success. The pandemic has accelerated the migration out 
of tech clusters into secondary cities as the transition to remote work 
has made physical proximity irrelevant. An investment in Federal 
funding to support new hubs could potentially precipitate a more 
healthy spread of tech firms across the Nation. Federal innovation 
money should be spread out more broadly to these cities and across 
institutions from local universities to private sector companies and 
local government in order to produce new pools of talent and 
opportunity. We have seen this firsthand in Hawaii, with new talent 
coming to live here and connecting to local business and education 
networks.
    The pandemic has brought many changes to our lives, but also brings 
new opportunities to improve our current systems. Throughout the 
pandemic, we have seen an incredible resilience of the entrepreneurial 
spirit to tackle today's most urgent challenges. For example, we have a 
local startup named Farm Link Hawaii. Farm Link Hawaii operates an 
onsite logistics platform that connects local farmers to residents to 
deliver thousands of pounds of local produce each week. In the first 
few weeks of the pandemic, they rapidly pivot their services to home 
delivery and modified their service to support thousands of residents 
and local farms. Their online consumer marketplace soared past their 
maximum capacity, and they quickly had to find a larger warehouse for 
their operations. Farm Link Hawaii has risen to this challenge, and 
their journey has been supported by the entrepreneurial ecosystem every 
step of the way.
    Beyond Hawaii, Elemental's portfolio company Goodr is using its 
food chain data tracking software to bring meals to thousands of 
students and seniors in Atlanta. And an Elemental portfolio company in 
the mobility sector, Numina, has been using its data platform to help 
cities across the country make decisions to help reduce the spread of 
COVID-19 in New York City. Especially in times of crisis, an 
entrepreneurial mindset and ability to rapidly prototype solutions are 
invaluable assets for building community resilience. Entrepreneurs are 
an important part of our communities and will be key to rebuilding our 
economy.
The Importance of Federal Funding and Programs & Their Role in 
        Supporting Regional Innovation Hubs
    The U.S. Federal government has a pivotal role to play in 
supporting regional innovation hubs that challenge and advancing clean 
technologies that will enhance U.S. competitiveness. The unique 
capacity of the Federal government to invest in long-term R&D is 
critical for the flow of new ideas and discoveries that fuel our 
economy. While private sector R&D investments through VC have 
increased, the government is often the first ``investor'', providing 
early capital for new technology startups.
    As the market takes off, it is imperative that the economic and 
entrepreneurial opportunity extend beyond our Nation's traditional 
technology hubs. Startups need more than funding to succeed and require 
a strong support ecosystem around them. The Elemental Excelerator 
platform has proven that it is possible to build strong technology hubs 
outside of the traditional megacities--especially when they are sector-
based and focus on a region's core competitive advantages. Based on our 
experience meeting 5,000 early stage startups and working closely with 
over 100 companies in our portfolio, we see three key roles for the 
Federal government in expanding entrepreneurship ecosystems:

    1. Seeding regional innovation ecosystems--More than 80 percent of 
our portfolio startups have been awarded Federal grant funding that 
seeded their growth. Programs like ARPA-E have an outsized benefit in 
underserved markets like Hawaii, because they are technical 
competitions that can deploy funding to markets that don't have robust 
VC funding available. At Elemental, every public sector dollar that we 
have invested into startups has led to 40 more dollars in private 
capital.
    While organizations have placed emphasis on the Federal 
government's support of U.S. DOE National Laboratories and ARPA-E, it 
is also critical to find ways to bridge the gap for scientists and 
entrepreneurs to scale startups--which is often done with support of 
trusted intermediaries such as incubators and accelerators that have a 
track record of success with commercialization. This is becoming 
increasingly important in the pilot and demonstration stage for 
startups when they are not ready for traditional VC and do not have a 
network of trusted partners. Finding new ways for the Federal 
government to act swiftly to support those companies not supported by 
traditional funding networks and local and state partners is key to 
growing innovation hubs. Ultimately, these investments will serve to 
accelerate the transition of government funded research from laboratory 
to marketplace.
    2. Ensuring that Federal policy supports innovation--Policy sets 
the stage and dictates the rules for the markets that our portfolio 
companies work in: energy, water, agriculture, and mobility.
    In aviation, our portfolio company Ampaire recently completed the 
longest route ever flown by an electrified aircraft. The demonstration 
Elemental is funding makes Ampaire the first to fly a hybrid electric 
aircraft on an operational route--between Kahului and Hana, Maui. These 
electric aircraft can cut fuel costs by more than half. Speeding up 
this kind of innovation will help small airlines stay in business in a 
challenging economic environment, cutting the cost of training pilots 
as well as the cost of everyday operations. The huge amount of 
innovation we've seen in airplanes over the last four years was 
unlocked by updated FAA regulations. And every time we see supportive 
policy enacted, it unleashes an enormous wave of private capital. Since 
2015, 10 of the leading electric aviation startups have raised more 
than $1.2 billion.
    In energy, Federal government permitting is a huge factor in 
startup capability for growth. One of our portfolio companies, 
geothermal innovator Fervo, had a project delayed more than two years 
by permitting processes at the Bureau of Land Management. For early 
stage companies that typically have one to three years of cash runway 
in the bank, long permitting processes threaten a company's ability to 
develop new technology and get projects up and running. This project is 
also located in a rural area that will see significant benefits from 
the jobs and economic value created.
    As an example in mobility, a recent study from the Transportation 
Electrification Partnership (TEP) found that building out our Nation's 
zero emissions transportation infrastructure can create 1.4 million 
jobs. The recommendations for a $1.5 billion stimulus proposal 
estimates 2.3 million jobs created across the U.S. and across sectors 
beyond just technology. Another key opportunity is in the 
electrification of transportation. There are currently 1.2 billion 
passenger vehicles on the road and yet only 1 percent of those are 
electric vehicles. But we know that progress is possible, and actually 
inevitable. Globally, 30 percent of the buses in the world are 
electric, with the lion's share found in China. We're optimistic about 
the U.S.'s ability to catch up as we see companies like Tesla with a 
market capitalization more than 10x that of General Motors.
    Also in mobility, we believe measures such as the Accessibility 
Performance Measure for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) will 
change the allocation of DOT funding to focus on what is important--
getting people where they need to go--rather than focusing on highway 
speeds. These kinds of policy signals are what entrepreneurs look for, 
and unlock waves of new startups and innovations when adopted.
    3. Buying climate technology innovation--Through the Department of 
Defense (DOD) and other government agencies, the government is a key 
customer in many of our country's smaller cities and rural areas. By 
being a customer and user of clean energy innovation, the public sector 
is also acting as a partner, advocate, and supporter of technology 
companies and creating good-paying jobs across these geographies. For 
example, our portfolio company CarbonCure has proven that we can 
sequester carbon dioxide in concrete and that it doesn't cost more. 
Each mile of concrete pavement has the potential to reduce 
CO2 emissions by 500,000 pounds, which is equivalent to 
driving from San Francisco to Washington D.C. about 200 times. As the 
U.S. invests in new infrastructure across the nation, we can specify 
carbon-infused concrete--which will help us meet our climate goals 
without needing to spend more.
    On a global scale, climate technology is a battleground of American 
competitiveness. In the last five years, $56B has been invested in 
clean technology through venture capital. 45 percent of that was in 
North America and another 45 percent was from Asia, with China gaining 
leadership over the US. There has also been more than $300 billion in 
project finance annually for the last 5 years with China leading 
investment with around $100 billion per year, about a third of global 
financing. Now is the time to invest in American entrepreneurship and 
competitiveness. The stage is set for regional innovation hubs to 
thrive. Strategic government support can create even more 
opportunities.
    Finally, to close, we'd like to share the following suggestions 
from a coalition of incubators and accelerators across the nation--LA 
Cleantech Incubator (LACI), New Energy Nexus, Elemental Excelerator, 
VertueLab (formerly Oregon BEST), Greentown Labs, IN2, NYU Urban Future 
Lab, Clean Energy Trust, Powerhouse, BRITE Energy, Prospect Silicon 
Valley, Third Derivative, Launch Alaska, Activate, Forge, Tennessee 
Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC), Austin Technology Incubator 
(ATI), Cleantech Open (CTO).
    The below provides some key actions that we believe Federal 
government should consider:

  1.  Support regional clusters of energy innovation including an 
        emphasis on disadvantaged communities and underrepresented 
        entrepreneurs.

      a.  Create a $50M National Innovation Pilot Fund in the U.S. 
            Department of Energy for cleantech solutions in 
            disadvantaged communities.

      b.  Enhance and accelerate a National Initiative to support 
            regional cleantech innovation ecosystem partners with $25M 
            across regional ecosystems.

      c.  Utilize the Small Business Administration (SBA)'s Small 
            Business Investment Company (SBIC) $4B in annual debt 
            authority to support regional incubator investment funds.

  2.  Create a Cleantech Innovation Task Force ensuring Federal 
        government programs align with and support early stage 
        innovation and needs of diverse entrepreneurs.

      a.  For task force and launch

      b.  Review and evaluate existing programs as well as new programs

      c.  Within 180 days, come back with set of actions

  3.  Dedicate funding to the innovation ecosystem via SBA, Economic 
        Development Administration (EDA), and DOE for cleantech 
        incubators, startups, small businesses, job training and pilots 
        to accelerate small business innovation in response to the 
        economic impact of COVID

  4.  Dedicate $2.5 billion to the early stage clean energy innovation 
        ecosystem (direct funding to startups as well as through 
        intermediary organizations) to do the following:

      a.  Enable funding especially for pilots and demonstrations

      b.  Emergency loans and grants

      c.  Targeted funding for diverse founders

      d.  Operational funding

      e.  Job training and workforce trades and internships

  5.  Dedicated focused fund on a major climate challenge 
        transportation-energy nexus. To accelerate zero emissions 
        mobility via the Department of Transportation, DOE provides 
        funding for national and regional infrastructure, workforce 
        development and technology advancement.

      a.  $25 billion investment in the assembly and adoption of 
            electric and zero emissions vehicles along with supply 
            chain development.

      b.  $85 billon for electric vehicle charging and related 
            infrastructure investment

      c.  $25 billion for zero emissions public transit, active transit 
            and safe streets

      d.  $12.5 billion for workforce development, safety standards and 
            job training

      e.  $2.5 billion in innovation ecosystem for cleantech startups 
            and related small businesses, prioritizing those created by 
            underrepresented founders.

    Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify on this important 
topic.
    Sincerely,
                                              Dawn Lippert,
                                                               CEO,
                                                 Elemental Excelerator.

    Senator Thune. Thank you, Ms. Lippert. Let's just start, 
Mr. Hall in Washington, D.C. we hear a lot about two different 
Americas and the growing political, cultural, and economic 
divide that is occurring in this country. In your testimony, 
you indicate that there is also a divide in venture capital 
investment. What do you believe are the causes of the imbalance 
of investment between different geographic regions in the 
country?
    Mr. Hall. Thanks for that question, Senator. I think a lot 
of it is based in legacy. Some of the previous speakers have 
talked about the efficient ecosystem that sprung up in places 
like Silicon Valley and in places like Boston where ideas 
literally can go from, you know, napkin to IPO without ever 
getting on a plane. And that is just not the case for most of 
the country and most Americans. And I think the ability to 
start to support from the ideation phase, when it's sprung into 
a young grad student's mind when they are sitting in the 
university, how can you go from there to feet on the ground and 
be a one or two person startup, as Mr. Hespen referred to, to 
grow truly exponentially, 2, 4, 8, 20, 50, 200 employees, all 
of this high growth startup in a number of years.
    Having the resources that can support and the 
infrastructure in an ecosystem that can support that type of 
growth is really hard. And being able to do the pre-work, which 
a lot of organizations have done in years past, to set up the 
communities so that the meetups and the technologists who want 
to come together and know what do I do, how do I join your 
startup? Creating that infrastructure is critical to being able 
to launch and scale and sustain these startups. And this can 
happen anywhere.
    We have seen it happen in community after community, but it 
is required that--the investment in the infrastructure is 
required ahead of time, but also being able to capture that 
student or that entrepreneur who wants to start that company, 
being able to meet them where they are with the right resources 
at the right time can easily unlock this opportunity.
    And it is part of the culture in Silicon Valley. And it 
needs to be, you know, it needs to be advertised and marketed 
in a lot of the other parts of the country so that this 
entrepreneurial spark can be harnessed and really exploited in 
all sorts of different countries--all sorts of different 
communities across the country.
    Senator Thune. Thank you. Ms. Garfinkle, as a venture 
capitalist in Michigan, how do you perceive the geographic 
investment divide and has it impacted your ability to raise 
capital or to identify promising startups in which to invest?
    Ms. Garfinkle. Thank you, Senator Thune. You know, there 
definitely is a big divide, obviously, between Silicon Valley 
and Ann Arbor, Michigan. And it was very difficult to raise our 
first fund. It is, you know, it continued to be very difficult 
up until we were basically on fund three and we had exits, 
which means that we had companies that we had either sold or 
taken public, and so investors that would want to invest in 
Arboretum could see that we were being successful, picking 
companies in our geography and helping them be successful so 
that they then wanted to invest with us.
    You know, I think of venture capital, honestly, as the glue 
that holds the system together, if you will, the 
entrepreneurial system together. And it is not--you know, the 
venture capital firms providing capital, that is very true. But 
really what they are also providing is their network of other 
investors, of potential board members, of consultants, of 
lawyers, of accountants, of team members, of recruiters. I 
mean, there are so many different things that it takes to go 
from a concept to a company that is ultimately successful.
    And who is going to bring all of those pieces together. It 
really is the venture firms and the experience that they have 
from all the other companies that they have invested in, all 
the other relationships that they have built that really helps 
to basically bring that all together and be the glue of that 
entrepreneurial ecosystem. There are policies that can be put 
in place. There are states--and the state of Michigan had quite 
a few initiatives to really help spur this entrepreneurial 
endeavor here in the state.
    We are a big automotive, you know, state, as everybody 
knows, with GM and Ford and all the big automotive companies 
here except for Tesla. And they really, about 20 years ago, 
made a big initiative to try and spark some different 
entrepreneurial activities and bring all of these different 
pieces together. One of the core ones was to start some new 
venture funds, and that is when sort of the birth of Arboretum 
happened.
    Senator Thune. Thank you. Mr. Hespen, you founded, as I 
mentioned earlier, a successful technology company in South 
Dakota, which would be considered by many a nontraditional 
state to build a tech startup. Could you elaborate on some of 
the challenges you faced, perhaps more importantly, the 
advantages you had in doing so? And as a follow up, have you 
seen any changes in the entrepreneurial landscape in South 
Dakota since you started your company back in 2015?
    Mr. Hespen. Thank you for the question, Senator. So I 
certainly have connected and networked with other 
entrepreneurs, some in California Bay Area. And so we 
definitely got our opportunities to talk about some of the 
challenges that we face, some of the advantages of being in the 
Midwest. Certainly one of the challenges can be talent. So if I 
was to go and seek SACS experienced folks in South Dakota, I am 
probably not going to find them. So then I got to find a way to 
either recruit them or grow them, which can be a challenge and 
will probably be a challenge as long as we are growing as 
quickly as we are. There is obviously some pretty supreme 
advantages, though, as well.
    For the same reason that I never wanted to leave, there is 
plenty of other of my peers, other people that want to be in 
the area. And so there is an awesome opportunity to capture 
some of that talent as it is coming out or maybe wants to come 
back. There is a legitimate thing around cost in managing an 
office and personnel. Cash is king when you are in startup, and 
how do you make sure that you keep the cash going as long as 
you can to keep the doors open is critical. So I would often 
joke with some of my peers and CEOs about office costs per 
square foot and it would about make them throw up how much I am 
paying for a renovated space and, you know, very close to 
downtown.
    And so there is definitely some advantage on cost wise, but 
it presents its own unique challenges as well, mostly around 
the personnel, which we have we have tried to do a good job 
working with the community's workforce development to help 
bridge some of those that we can continue to scale and build it 
internally without having to, you know, overcome that 
elsewhere.
    Senator Thune. And have you see any changes in your in your 
time, I mean in terms of the landscapes and starting your 
company in 2015, as far as kind of the environment conditions 
for entrepreneurial----
    Mr. Hespen. Yes. So we obviously for the environment, we 
want to be that story. And I think that is one of the big 
things the city and the community around us is rallying around, 
like how do we do more of these? But there is actually 
something interesting that is happening too with COVID kind of 
accelerating the working from home movement.
    We have had an access to a lot more people that are moving 
into the area that are thinking about either starting their own 
business, you know they were with a company that they weren't 
able to work remotely before, as well as talent coming to the 
area. And so once you start having these great minds, 
Microsoft, Netflix, people that achieved some really good 
positions coming out here, we have got access to some new 
headspace that we probably wouldn't have had 9 months ago, so--
--
    Senator Thune. Great, thank you. Senator Schatz.
    Senator Schatz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to all of 
the panelists. Ms. Lippert, I remember a conversation I had 
with a bunch of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley and I 
said, you know, what is the future for clean tech? This was 
several years ago. And one of them sort of leaned in to me and 
said, you know, the problem is it lacks an exit strategy.
    And there was a sort of snobbery around the profitability 
or perceived profitability around clean tech, because what you 
are doing is making things work better potentially over the 
long run as opposed to having that one time liquidity event. Is 
that still something that you run into? And if so, how do you 
work around it or overcome it?
    Ms. Lippert. Yes, it is a great question. I think the 
market has changed significantly in the last couple of years. 
So I mentioned that we are seeing a lot of investment in 
aviation, for instance, and some of the companies that are 
investing there are Jet Blue, Toyota, these big companies that 
can buy interesting electric aviation companies.
    So I think it is really corporations kind of coming to the 
table in the last few years in a really serious way which 
provide a pretty important exit strategy for some of these 
companies. Because ultimately, if you venture capital funding 
to either sell the company or go public or somehow, you know, 
generate returns for investors. So those are a couple of the 
ways that we have seen folks really leaning in on corporate 
venture capital and corporate investment.
    Senator Schatz. Why do you suppose that has changed? Is 
that because the corporations are, like you said, they are 
aligning with the IPCC goals and they have got to figure out 
ways to align their investments with these goals?
    Ms. Lippert. Yes, I think they are seeing--corporations are 
seeing--they are also seeing some success in previous 
companies. So as Ms. Garfinkle said, you know success breeds 
success. So if you look at Tesla, the success of Tesla has 
really been impactful for the public markets this year. So the 
climate technology, the special purpose acquisition companies 
are outperforming the overall market on the whole pretty 
significantly. And a lot of that is driven by electric 
vehicles.
    And sort of the appeal of looking at what has happened with 
Tesla and some of these other companies and seeing that some of 
these other electric truck companies or alternative fuel 
companies could be, sort of, the next Tesla. So I think there 
is some sense of success coming in there. And then I also think 
that we have seen a huge amount of talent kind of coming in 
from traditional technology like the product space.
    So, you know, a gentleman before mentioned Netflix and 
Google and others. We are now seeing founders that are coming 
out of such traditional technology who really know how to grow 
companies coming in to climate because they have experienced 
wildfires, they have experienced hurricanes, they have 
experienced the impacts of climate, and a lot of them have 
children and they want to be part of the difference in making a 
change.
    And so I think it is a couple of things together. But when 
you have really talented entrepreneurs coming into the space 
and a lot of sort of corporate interest, and I think just a 
recognition that decarbonization is inevitable so there will be 
a huge amount of money spent on companies that are achieving 
these decarbonization. It has made for a much more attractive 
investing environment and people are coming into the space 
because that.
    Senator Schatz. You know, I am very familiar with the 
success of the Excelerator. I meet with your companies whenever 
I can. What is it about what you are doing that is unique? And 
I guess to put it bluntly, I worry that it is so unique that it 
becomes not replicable elsewhere. So persuade me and the rest 
of the panel that what you are doing can be scaled?
    Ms. Lippert. Well, that is e great question. It has 
actually already been scaled and in multiple places. So, for 
example, in Alaska, we have replicated this model through 
Launch Alaska, which is another rural market that has some 
really interesting opportunities for entrepreneurs, in 
aviation, and they have a lot of sort of oil and energy 
expertise in Alaska that can be redeployed for batteries and 
solar and other kinds of industry. So it is happening in 
Alaska.
    It is actually happening in many other cities and states 
around the country as well. So we see really strong development 
in Houston, in Austin, in Los Angeles, across sort of the 
Midwest region anchored in Chicago, and many other of these 
regions that are able to sort of start aggregating capital and 
aggregating talent around climate technology. So I think in 
some ways it is unique, but in other ways it is being 
replicated elsewhere. I think one of the really key things for 
Elemental is the power of the public, private partnership.
    So we have significant funding that was seeded from the 
Federal Government, and it has enabled us to attract a lot of 
private funding from foundations, from philanthropists, from 
corporations, that sort of see the momentum, see the interest 
in innovation, and want to be part of it. So I can't emphasize 
enough the importance sometimes of the Federal Government kind 
of leaning in, going first, and seeding these innovation 
ecosystems and seeding these ideas so that entrepreneurs like 
me and like our team can build something really interesting 
around that.
    Senator Schatz. Thank you very much.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Schatz. Senator 
Klobuchar. Senator Klobuchar? Did you punch on mute? OK. 
Alright, we will come back to her. We will move next door to--
well, not exactly next door, but we will move to Michigan. 
Senator Peters.

                STATEMENT OF HON. GARY PETERS, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM MICHIGAN

    Senator Peters. Close enough, Mr. Chairman. Well, thank 
you. Thanks to our witnesses here today for your testimony. It 
as an important subject. And my first question is to Jan 
Garfinkle. And I know you are remote. You are in Ann Arbor 
right now, I believe. A wonderful place. And certainly your 
entrepreneurial journey is a true success story, and it is a 
testament to some of the talent and opportunities that exist in 
Michigan. So it is great to have you here today and to hear 
your testimony. In that testimony, in your opening, you 
highlighted the commercialization of university research is 
certainly a tried and true way to spur innovation.
    I think you mentioned Carnegie Mellon as one example in 
that testimony. And certainly you know very well from being in 
Ann Arbor with the University of Michigan, that we are at the 
forefront of scientific research and not just at U of M, but we 
have other large research universities in our state, as many 
states do. There are federally funded labs and grants that are 
provided. You could talk a little bit about what we can do to 
better incentivize private investment in technology that comes 
out of these universities, perhaps? What is working now, and 
what more we need to do to attract more VC interest into those 
areas that may be blessed with one or more research 
universities in their community?
    Ms. Garfinkle. Thank you, Senator Peters. Nice to see you. 
Appreciate you joining us today. You know, it is a great 
question. And when I look at our portfolio, I mentioned that we 
have 50 companies that we have invested in over the life of 
Arboretum. And I think about 13 of them are actually in 
Michigan. So this is the idea that venture capital really is a 
local investing endeavor. And when I look at those 13, I think 
7 or 8 of them are University of Michigan spinouts.
    It is a critical component because it basically provides 
the raw material that creates the company. It is the research 
that is done at the universities. In one case, what is really 
interesting that there were two PhD students that came up with 
an idea of a lab on a chip, is what I will call it, and created 
a company called Handy Lab. We invested in that company in 
2004. It sold to a large strategic corporation in 2009. Those 
two founders, along with the CEO, then went on to create three 
more companies. And so four companies came out of what was 
originally sort of core technology out of the University of 
Michigan. And all of those companies had successful exits and 
were located maybe a mile, two miles from our office. So it 
really is important to do that.
    I think there is one piece of policy that is, or a bill, 
that is being considered at this point, which is the Endless 
Frontiers Act, which I do believe will provide a lot more 
research dollars to the universities to help create this sort 
of core patent portfolio that each of the universities can 
learn how to commercialize better. And, you know, we have 
invested in many. As I said, we represent I think half of--our 
portfolio companies represent about half of the states of the 
Senators sitting on this panel today. So many of those are 
coming out of the university.
    So what we are experiencing in Ann Arbor is nothing 
different than what could be experienced in any of the other 
geographies where there is research universities. So I think 
that is a really great place to focus on, thinking about trying 
to create an ecosystem that is really supportive to those 
researchers as they spin those companies out. And the 
universities have come a long way with regards to how they put 
the terms together when these companies spin out. But it is a 
difficult--it is difficult. Just because you have an idea, that 
doesn't ultimately make it a successful company. It takes the 
talent, it takes the venture capital, it takes the accountants, 
and it takes the lawyers, and it is a whole group of people, 
like a basketball team, that need to all come together to help 
that company ultimately be successful.
    And I would really think about some new policies, including 
supporting that Endless Frontiers Act, Senator Klobuchar's new 
Act may be another one that I think would be helpful, I am not 
as familiar with it, but those would be the ways to really 
stimulate around these research universities in particular as 
sort of the core areas to try and put some extra effort into. 
And then just get out of the way of the entrepreneurs and let 
them do their thing once they have that raw material all 
together in those geographies.
    Senator Peters. Well, thank you for that answer and thank 
you for mentioning the Endless Frontiers Act. I am proud to be 
one of the co-sponsors of that bill. And as you know, it is 
focused on areas such as AI, machine learning, computing, 
robotics, automation, advanced manufacturing. But as a 
successful venture capitalist, is there something we are 
missing on that list? Is there something else that we should be 
looking at in terms of investments in emerging technologies 
that VCs will be interested in investing in the future?
    Ms. Garfinkle. So there is a broad category of 
biotechnology listed there, which is really more drugs and 
genetics. It is missing medical devices and diagnostics. I 
would really encourage you to include medical devices and 
diagnostics. As you know, with COVID right now, diagnostics has 
been an incredibly important area. And right here in Michigan, 
we were an investor in one of these four companies that I just 
mentioned that sort of created a critical mass of diagnostic 
expertise here in Ann Arbor, was a company called Pneumatics 
that developed one of the very first COVID-19 PCR tests. We 
have now sold over 1 million, 2 million tests, I have lost 
track honestly, worldwide of COVID-19 tests.
    And it is the best COVID-19 test because it can take the 
nose, the nasal swab sample and in 80 minutes give you a PCR 
result. It is not the antibody result. It is not the antigen 
result, which is not quite as reliable. It is a PCR result 
telling you if you are infectious or not. So there are some 
really important technologies in the diagnostics space and I 
would encourage you to add that and medical devices to the 
list.
    Senator Peters. Right. Thank you for your testimony. 
Appreciate it and appreciate your work you do in Michigan every 
day.
    Ms. Garfinkle. Thank you. I appreciate yours too.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Peters. Senator Moran.

                STATEMENT OF HON. JERRY MORAN, 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS

    Senator Moran. Chairman Thune, thank you. And witnesses, 
thank you for your presence here today. This is a topic that we 
have been engaged in for a long time. In my early days in the 
Senate introduced legislation called the Startup Act, which was 
generated in large part by policy recommendations by the 
Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. And it is my view that our 
responsibility is to keep the American dream alive and well. 
And that means giving more people the opportunity to pursue 
their dreams, create jobs for themselves, their families and 
those who work for them.
    So we want to be helpful. The Startup Act has generally 
broad support, but has not become law in significant part, I 
think, because it involves issues related to immigration and a 
workforce that is not just here currently. Let me ask a couple 
of questions about provisions that are in the Startup Act. This 
one would be for Ms. Garfinkle. A component of previous drafts 
of the Startup Act, which was actually enacted into law, was 
the creation of an R&D tax credit, payroll tax offset. What is 
your view of how tax policy can support startups?
    Ms. Garfinkle. Thank you, Senator Moran. I do believe that 
tax policy is really important to helping startups, and I 
appreciate that the ones that were included in the Startup Act, 
there is a need for the NOLs and the R&D tax credit to be 
provided to startups.
    As you can imagine, these startups--the startup is a raw 
idea and it takes a lot of research dollars to go from that 
concept through development to generating revenue. And it can 
take five years. It can take $50 million, $100 million to get 
all the way through that entire process. And so you can imagine 
there are a lot of R&D dollars that could be offset from a tax 
standpoint and it would benefit the startup company that it 
would be going to.
    So I really encourage you to continue forward with both of 
those. I think they are very, very important and really would 
be a big help to the startup community.
    Senator Moran. Thank you for your testimony and that 
encouragement that it includes. Mr. Hall, what other tax 
proposals would support startups and incentivize venture 
capital investment in my home state of Kansas?
    Mr. Hall. Thank you, Senator Moran. I am not an expert in 
tax policy, but I am definitely in favor of and really support 
the taxation policies that enable faster access to capital, to 
different pockets and different fund managers who can more 
easily get that capital deployed into startups. I think also, 
as has been spoken before, these entrepreneurs really invest 
their heart and soul into their companies and sometimes take, 
you know, take very little in compensation, particularly 
competitive compensation that a lot of these really smart 
engineers and product managers could do in the private sector.
    And so they see that their startup is their key to being 
able to accelerate. And so thinking about making sure that 
capital gains and things like that are preserved for some of 
these entrepreneurs who have really invested their time and 
energy into their businesses is important.
    And I think, you know, obviously as Ms. Garfinkel has said, 
small fund managers, people who are running really early funds, 
$5 million, $10 million funds, the fees generated on those 
funds aren't going to, you know, line the pockets. And so the 
carried interest opportunity for fund managers, particularly 
emerging fund managers, and particularly those fund managers 
who are either women or fund managers of color, they rely on 
the carried interest as being part of their compensation, if 
you look at it more holistically. So those are a couple that I 
would highlight. But I would be happy to get back to you on 
more specifics.
    Senator Moran. Happy to hear anything that you would like 
for me to know. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hall. Ms. Garfinkle, 
let me go back to you. The Senator from Michigan sort of down 
this path. I want to pursue it a little bit further about tax 
payer funded research. The goal ought to be to bolster regional 
commercialization strategies and converting research into new 
products and services. I chair the Appropriations Subcommittee 
that has jurisdiction over the NSF, the National Science 
Foundation, and other science-based spending.
    I remain interested in supporting commercialization and 
continued Federal investment. But what recommendations, either 
legislative or non-legislative, do you have for the Committee 
to further improve the commercialization of Federal research? 
And while Mr. Peters focused, I think, generally on university 
research, is there something that the Federal Government in 
particular can do with the research that is conducted by the 
Federal Government, at NIH, NSF, those kind of places?
    Ms. Garfinkle. Thank you, Senator Moran. You know, I think 
one thing that would be really helpful is the basic research 
that is done--I mean, you are asking more about commercializing 
it, which to me is taking that idea and making it a product. 
One big piece that I think is often missing and really does 
need funding is the idea that there is a prototype that gets 
built and a market study that gets done. And I know I am 
getting very specific here, but I sat on a state initiative 
that was trying to do the very same thing, which was 
commercialize technologies out of the universities. And often 
the researchers don't think about is there a person or a 
company that will buy this product, ultimately.
    What is the problem they are trying to solve and will 
somebody buy that product? And I think that research needs to 
be done at an earlier stage than after all the research dollars 
have gone into it, and then they try and figure out, oh, gee, 
is this a product that somebody will buy? So I would really 
encourage that the research that is done, not only is it done 
for sort of the basic research and then as it gets into 
translational research, it would incorporate market studies, 
patent assessments, and then prototypes being built.
    Because the one other issue is there is really no other 
dollars that go to those activities and so somebody, you know--
they call this the area of gap funding. That gap funding could 
very easily be provided by the government. It is not that 
expensive. It is an extra $100,000, $200,000, depends what it 
is. But it would be very smart money spent to really figure out 
if the product is worthwhile, if the product will be bought, 
and have a prototype being built so it can be more easily 
explained and tested.
    Senator Moran. That is very useful. Thank you very much.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Moran. Senator Klobuchar, 
are you available now?
    Senator Klobuchar. Hello. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. 
Thank you, all of you. And I wanted to actually start with you, 
Mr. Hespen. I so much enjoyed when Steve Case came to Minnesota 
on the Rise Rest Tour. It was amazing. And all the 
entrepreneurs gathered there. And I am really excited to talk 
to you just about the concept of our bill, which is to make 
sure that we get, and I really would like to, I was thinking as 
I listened to this hearing, how I am going to reach out to some 
of our Republican colleagues to see what we can do to finesse 
the bill some and get them on board, because I think that would 
be a really good idea.
    I am coming from a state that has a lot of startups, 
particularly medical device, thank you, Ms. Garfinkle, in 
Minnesota. But we are nowhere near the startup money of some of 
the other areas. And I truly believe it is best for the whole 
country if you have those kind of incubation areas outside of 
the three main ones. And I see you nodding your head as well, 
Ms. Lippert. So could you, Mr. Hespen, just comment on that?
    Mr. Hespen. Thank you, Senator, for the question. So I 
think in just, if I am following your question correctly, is 
how do these sort of support functions work with some of this 
funding as they are launching? Is that what you are referring 
to?
    Senator Klobuchar. Yes. And then I will go to Mr. Hall 
about the Rise of the Rest. Yes.
    Mr. Hespen. Alright. Thank you, Senator. So I think that is 
actually one of the key things. I think one of the 
misconception, and I think Mr. Hall actually made a great point 
about meeting entrepreneurs where they are at and being able to 
apply the right resources to get them to that next stage. There 
are different phases in a company. The first one being, do you 
have a business, you know, a viable product.
    Ms. Garfinkle pointed out to that. Is it even something 
that can be sold, validating that. Now how do you get early 
product adoption and distribution early on to determine if this 
is something that you can actually get to the market? There is 
this different mentorship or a different sort of support 
network there. Then there is a component where you start 
bringing people who can really assist in building out a machine 
scaling, understanding what are going to be the next problems 
and pitfalls that the company's going to need to do.
    Because, frankly, even with capital, if you don't solve 
some of those problems early on, you can't even deploy the 
capital efficiently. So--.
    Senator Klobuchar. OK.
    Mr. Hespen. So I think just making sure those support 
networks are in place and evaluating the different functions of 
the where the startups are at.
    Senator Klobuchar. OK, thank you. Mr. Hall, do you want to 
get to the Rise to the Rest piece of this?
    Mr. Hall. Yes, thank you very much, Senator Klobuchar. I 
love speaking about the work that we do. It is so important, 
but it is so rewarding to be able to go into a lot of these 
communities and talk to the men and women that are building the 
companies, you know, outside of the coastal tech hubs. And the 
number one thing that we see and it is so amazing to see is the 
domain expertise, the lived experience of these folks who are 
working in industry, who are working, you know, directly in 
line roles, who say there must be a better way.
    I have got a great idea on how to innovate my industry. And 
what has typically happened is there has been this experience 
gap specific to venture capital where they struggle to figure 
out how do I raise that first round of seed capital? How do I 
have the conviction with capital to leave my current job and go 
out on a limb with this entrepreneurship? And one of the things 
that we are advocating with Rise of the Rest is take the leap 
and build the ecosystems that can help really extend that leap 
into, you know, the first step of, you know, seed funding, 
which is followed by follow on funding and hopefully allows 
that company to hit that escape velocity into the big leagues 
of capital.
    Because what we noticed is that a lot of times regional 
capital, the first couple of investments made into the company, 
are the ones that really solidify the company's trajectory. 
Because our coastal investors are happy to jump on a plane to 
come out and lead a growth equity round. But it is those first 
couple of investments, that the regional funds and the micro-
funds that are in region in these communities, the angel 
investors, and the investment clubs that pony up the first risk 
dollars, are the ones that really, really help influence it.
    And being able to leverage in some of the legislation, some 
of the policy pieces that you have authored, Senator Klobuchar, 
and are leading, is really important to continue that pipeline 
and continue driving that innovation forward, and continue 
giving those entrepreneurs the shot to take their leap and 
continue to innovate their industries.
    Senator Klobuchar. Thank you. Thank you so much. And this 
is my last question Ms. Garfinkle, Ms. Lippert, one of the 
things that we have seen is that we don't have enough women and 
minority startups, as you know. One of the things in this bill, 
and we should review it, is to not just focus on regions of the 
country, but in areas of the country that already had the three 
areas, have major startups to direct more of the resources to 
women and minority entrepreneurs. And could you talk a little 
bit, either one of you or both, quickly about how the pandemic 
has disproportionately affected these entrepreneurs and why it 
would be, this is pretty much of a softball, good to have more 
women and minority owned businesses and startups. Take it away, 
whoever wants to answer.
    Ms. Garfinkle. OK. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar, I really 
appreciate that question. You know, women and minorities are 
definitely underrepresented, both at the venture level and 
venture funds and in portfolio companies. What is interesting 
is, if you look at geographies off the coast, that is not the 
case. In fact, in our portfolio, I think about a third of our 
venture founders of our portfolio companies are women or 
minorities.
    So it is really interesting that off the coast, I think 
people that are not in the industry, if you will, are willing 
to take more risk. And so I think there is actually a really 
significant opportunity to help support that, off the coast in 
particular. And, you know, I really encourage you to do that. 
My, and I am sorry I haven't read the bill in detail, but at 
the high level, my one suggestion for the bill would be to 
invest in venture funds that have that as an emphasis. If there 
is a woman who is part of it, maybe that is what you are doing. 
But it sounded more like the states would be investing 
alongside venture funds, not in venture funds.
    I would just encourage you to do both honestly because the 
venture funds are really the glue that will start and help 
provide all of the infrastructure to help those companies be 
successful.
    Senator Klobuchar. OK, thank you. You want to add anything, 
Ms. Lippert? Thank you.
    Ms. Lippert. Thank you so much for the opportunity, Senator 
Klobuchar. One thing I would add is I think the government has 
a big role to play on the funding side, as Ms. Garfinkle has 
said, and really supporting sort of those funds and funding. In 
our company this last group that we funded, 50 percent of the 
founders were women, about 50 percent of people of color. So 
they are there. I think the more than 80 percent of our 
companies have received some sort of government seed funding 
for research or for some sort of idea.
    So that funding is really important on the front end. But 
then there is another really important role for government as 
it relates to bringing opportunity to more kinds of 
entrepreneurs. And that is as a procurement and actually buying 
things from people as well. So it is really on creating that 
market. So we see this as particularly important off the coast 
because in places like Hawaii or other smaller markets or rural 
markets, Department of Defense is a really important customer 
as is the Department of Transportation for many of these 
technologies.
    So really thinking about that full suite of how government 
can support both from procurement perspective and on the front 
end as well.
    Senator Klobuchar. OK, well, very good. Well, thank you 
guys so much, and I look forward to working with you on our 
bill and look forward to working with the members of the 
Committee as well. I truly believe this is the moment because 
post-pandemic, wanting to get these startups going again, just 
gives us an ideal opportunity to as you say, do something good 
and then get out of the way so you guys can do your work. So, 
thank you. Thank you.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. I think 
Senator Young is trying to connect. And until he does, I will 
ask another question or two here. But I will direct this to Mr. 
Hespen and Ms. Garfinkle. One of the issues that I think 
effectual areas, and has been a focus of this committee for 
several years and will continue to be a priority of mine in the 
next Congress, is expanding reliable broadband services across 
the United States.
    And I am wondering what role you think reliable Internet 
services plays in growing a startup ecosystem. You talked about 
the ecosystem and how important that is, Mr. Hespen. So, could 
you talk a little bit about how important Internet services 
are, in particular, in the more rural parts of the United 
States?
    Mr. Hespen. Thank you, Senator, for the question. So one of 
the things that's really important that you kind of realize 
once you don't have it is when the Internet goes down. So we 
are a company that actually--I mean, we have, you know, in this 
new building that we are in before we transition to the new 
one, we don't have even telephone lines. So our entire 
salesforce for customer success groups, they rely heavily on 
VoIP, which is Voice over IP. All of our tools are primarily 
cloud based.
    So when we lose Internet connection, it is a really big 
deal and about everything shuts down. And so for that reason, 
we were fortunate enough to be able to get fiber optic into our 
company. But that is a huge lift for a company and it was very 
expensive even for us when we went to the new building. But 
especially as technology moves more toward what I think we are 
doing, it is absolutely critical. And the reliability of that 
and the speed is just--it is absolutely critical for us to 
operate.
    Senator Thune. Ms. Garfinkle?
    Ms. Garfinkle. I totally agree and, you know, it is just 
such a shame that there is so many pockets of areas where there 
is not broadband Internet. You know, we invest in health care 
companies and we are dealing with patients and we have health 
care IT companies, we have cancer--I am sorry, companies 
focused on cancer that are waiting for their genomic 
information. And when the Internet goes down or if they are in 
an area where the Internet is very spotty, it is really life or 
death in some situations.
    And so it is absolutely critical that we get broadband 
everywhere. Everybody needs access to it. And especially for 
these small startup companies, it is one of the critical sort 
of infrastructures that needs to be there like a telephone in 
order to be able to do what they are saying they are going to 
do for their customer, for their patients. So it is absolutely 
100 percent critical.
    Senator Klobuchar. Chairman Thune?
    Senator Thune. Senator, yes? Senator Klobuchar.
    Senator Klobuchar. If you are going to go to someone else, 
do that first. I just want clarification for Garfinkel and 
follow up our discussion.
    Senator Thune. OK, Is it a question or do you just need to 
clarify?
    Senator Klobuchar. Well, I wanted to clarify that the 
funding does actually--we are not going to have the government 
pick the companies. The funding goes through venture funds, as 
you suggested. But we have set it up in a way that makes it 
clearly legal and it goes that way. And I think instead of the 
government picking which startups, it goes through the venture 
funds.
    Ms. Garfinkle. That is excellent. That is the perfect way 
to do it, because then you are getting the double benefit of 
the venture funds being ultimately successful and the portfolio 
company. So that is fantastic.
    Senator Klobuchar. Alright. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Senator Thune. Thank you for your important clarification. 
We--yes, we don't want the government picking them.
    Senator Klobuchar. But that is because I want to get you on 
the bill, so----.
    [Laughter.]
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. Alright. 
Senator Rosen, I am told, has connected. Are you there?

                STATEMENT OF HON. JACKY ROSEN, 
                    U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA

    Senator Rosen. I am here. Can you hear me OK?
    Senator Thune. Yes.
    Senator Rosen. I had some audio problems earlier this 
morning, but thank you, Chairman Thune and, of course, Ranking 
Member Schatz. Appreciate you and all the witnesses for being 
here. But I want to build upon Senator Klobuchar's comments and 
questions on venture capital and minority-owned businesses, 
because the coronavirus pandemic has been devastating to small 
businesses in my home state of Nevada and across the country, 
putting millions of people out of work and closing many of our 
small businesses, closing them for good. Many minority-owned 
businesses have been particularly hard hit through the lack of 
access to capital in Nevada.
    We have one of the fastest growing AAPI communities in the 
country and over a quarter of our population is Latino. So more 
than 70,000 of our small businesses are owned by a person of 
color. When it comes to funding though, entrepreneurs of color 
are at a disadvantage. Only 1 percent of black founders and 2 
percent of Latino founders who seek venture capital receive it 
compared to 77 percent of other founders, and so the real 
economic ramifications for not addressing the inequality in 
venture capital funding. Studies show that if black 
entrepreneurs were provided equitable funding over the past 20 
years, we would have seen the creation of 6 million more jobs 
and an additional $13 trillion in our Nation's GDP.
    And so I just want to really address these benefits and we 
can add billions of dollars to our gross national product. So, 
Ms. Lippert, Mr. Hall, I have questions to you. Angel 
investment--angel and venture capital investment are important 
phases for emerging businesses. So what do you think are some 
of the ways we can show that minority owned startups and small 
businesses, especially in my state of Nevada, have access to 
these type of investment opportunities?
    And in your view, what can we do to ensure that all 
businesses have equal access to venture capital funding? So I 
guess we can start with Ms. Lippert.
    Ms. Lippert. Thank you so much for that question. So I 
think it is a really important point. And over the last 10 
years, female founded companies have been slowly gaining ground 
in getting venture capital investment. And last year they 
raised more than $20 billion across thousands of deals, which 
was compared to just 10 times more than about a decade ago. So 
we have been gaining ground. But as you mentioned, COVID has 
been pretty devastating and hit women led businesses much 
harder than male-led businesses.
    So the deal value for female founded companies was down 
over 30 percent in 2020, which is about twice what it was for 
male-led businesses. So this is a really critical issue. And 
what we have seen in our portfolio, we have about 100 companies 
active in the portfolio, is that women-led businesses and 
businesses of people of color were hit particularly hard this 
year. And one of the key things that have kept them alive has 
been the PPP. So that has been particularly important, I think, 
for companies outside of the traditional sort of technology 
hubs that already have more challenging access to capital and 
follow on funding.
    You know, it is harder to, sort of, meet entrepreneurs--
meet investors and make sure they can invest in a company. So 
the PPP has been a really critical element in keeping people's 
businesses going. The other thing I just want to mention 
briefly as we think about equity in having businesses, have 
equal opportunity, is that in a pandemic we have seen that some 
of these businesses that are started locally, have a unique 
ability to address their local challenges, and that has been 
doubly important during the pandemic.
    So one of our technology companies is Guter. They are based 
in Atlanta, Georgia. And through their technology platform, 
they have been able to take food that would otherwise go to 
waste and provide it to seniors and youth all over the country 
through their technology platform. So really serving the needs 
of their local community and then being able to grow that 
beyond. It is a woman-led company. And I think being sort of 
empathetic and responsive to the needs of the community is in 
her DNA and has been a really important element of making an 
impact for her.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. Mr. Hall, what do you think that 
we can do to be sure that--I really want to focus in because 
some of us who don't have these really large urban centers, how 
can we get support for our minority businesses, women-owned 
businesses? Mr. Hall, you want to speak to that in just a few 
seconds I have remaining?
    Mr. Hall. Yes. Thank you so much, Senator. I really 
appreciate the question. It is obviously a personal question 
for me. I think that, you know, the pathways for particularly 
black and Latinx-owned businesses, small businesses and 
startups in particular, which is what I know better, is harder 
because for a lot of them to have that first investment, they 
don't have the friends and family. They are often the friends 
and family in those ecosystems that are sending back the 
capital. So I think a couple of things.
    Number one, creating the pathways that can help expedite 
capital, help break down some of the historic biases around 
capital being funded into black and Latinx businesses is huge. 
I think investing in the networks so that those folks are able 
to get access to some of the conversations around capital 
flows. At Rise of the Rest, we were able to recently run a 
pitch competition in which we sourced nearly 500 black-led 
founders to participate in our virtual tour focused on black 
entrepreneurship. And we were able to, I am happy to announce, 
invest in three businesses, all black led.
    And more importantly, we were able to connect some of those 
founders with over 100 different venture capitalists across the 
country, breaking down some of those network barriers so that 
those conversations, those founders can make it to the decision 
room and actually pitch their business to the decisionmakers, 
as opposed to having to start, you know, building the network 
and doing the sort of grassroots networking.
    So I am really proud to be able to apply effort in breaking 
the networks. But I think a lot more is needed for capital. A 
lot more is needed to encourage other businesses to be 
customers of these black and brown led startups. So I think 
that there is a lot that needs to be done. And I am really 
excited about conversations, Senator, that that encouraged that 
type of entrepreneurship and that type of investment capital 
into these small businesses.
    Senator Rosen. Well, thank you both. I look forward to 
working with you on this public, private partnerships. And as 
we like to say in Nevada, spur innovation. So there you go. I 
yield back. I went over my time. Sorry, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Rosen. Senator Moran has 
a follow-up question he would like to ask.
    Senator Moran. Chairman Thune, thank you. Again for Ms. 
Garfinkle. You indicated in your testimony you point out that 
foreign born entrepreneurs provided a pretty significant 
contribution to the U.S. economy. Provisions in the Startup Act 
would establish a conditional immigrant visa for up to 75,000 
qualified alien entrepreneurs to stand up a business and create 
jobs in the U.S.
    I wanted to give you the opportunity to get in the record 
for perhaps my benefit as we work to accomplish the goal of 
passage of this legislation. What would you--what do you think 
the impact of a program like that would be to the U.S. economy 
long term? Would economic competitiveness in the global economy 
and increased jobs result from this type of policy?
    Ms. Garfinkle. Yes, thank you, Senator Moran, I appreciate 
you bringing that up. In my intro, I did mention the Startup 
Act and I do believe the Startup Visa in particular is 
critically important. And when we look at our portfolio, about 
a third of our entrepreneur founders are immigrants. They tend 
to be PhD students in universities that come up with a great 
idea. They are fantastic to back and we have had great success 
with that. So I am very, very supportive of it.
    I think it is really critical. The two founders that I 
mentioned earlier ended up in creating four companies here in 
Michigan and probably a thousand jobs. So it is absolutely, you 
know--there is a direct correlation between these immigrant 
entrepreneurs and the number of jobs that they are able to 
create. And I would be very, very supportive of it.
    Senator Thune. Thank you, Senator Moran. My understanding 
is my neighbor now to the west, Senator Tester, is joining. Is 
Senator Tester out there?

                 STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA

    Senator Tester. Chairman Thune, thank you very much. And I 
appreciate your patience. I got hung up on a telephone call, so 
I had to, you know, anyway, you know, the same thing that 
happens to everybody. First of all, I want to thank everybody 
who has testified here today, not only for the work you do 
every day and the jobs you create every day, but hopefully the 
quality of life that you are improving every day. I very much 
appreciate your work. I want to go to an area that you may or 
may not know about, and that is Indian country.
    The Chairman knows in our large land based tribes, 
particularly those that don't have gaming, are--I mean, it is 
poverty, a Third World nation stuff, honestly. Unemployment 
through the roof. Now, we have done some stuff to try to make 
it more easier for businesses to do business there and give 
them some tax breaks and those kind of things. Have any of you 
had occasion to invest in Indian country in general? Yes, or 
no? If it is yes, talk and otherwise I will assume it is a no.
    Ms. Lippert. I can give potentially one or two examples, 
Senator. Thank you so much for that. I actually think it is 
really important. So a couple of our portfolio companies have 
been quite active at doing things in Native American regions on 
particularly installing solar, which is really--can be really 
important and can help save money for different tribes there.
    And then also one of our companies called Source Global has 
provided a lot of basically water panels. They are sort of like 
solar panels, but they make fresh water from the sun and the 
air in Indian country, too. So I think that is--those are a 
couple of examples of companies that are using innovation and 
really prioritizing and working with tribes in Native American 
regions.
    Senator Tester. So is there--I mean, I know Mr. Hespen 
talked about mentorship being as important as money. And by the 
way, I think that is a really, really good point. The question 
is, what is lacking in Indian country? Is it too high a risk 
because they are sovereign nations? Is it the fact that maybe 
we are not doing a good job encouraging entrepreneurship so the 
folks aren't out there? Can you give me any idea? Because we 
deal with that stuff all the time in Congress because of the 
trust responsibility we have to Indian tribes.
    Ms. Lippert. Yes, I will give you sort of just two thoughts 
and then we can follow up with more. One is that, I actually 
think what the Senator was mentioning before about the rural 
STEM education gap is one really important element of this. And 
this is sort of outside of traditional tech hubs where we see a 
lot of success. There is also really strong STEM programs and 
youth really see an opportunity to intern in tech companies or 
somehow provide that connection. And that has been really 
critical.
    For the second thing that I would say which is, when it 
comes to bringing innovation into some of these areas, we have 
seen that community-based organizations and partnerships with 
community organizations have been just a critical element in 
success. So they already have the trust of the community about 
a long term relationship. Unfortunately, I think the way that 
some of the government funding goes to funding research or 
funding demonstrations doesn't acknowledge this and doesn't set 
aside funding for community-based organizations that could 
partner with technology companies in these kinds of 
deployments.fund
    Senator Tester. Anybody else want to comment? If not, I 
will move on to the next one. The next one is something we deal 
with in this Commerce committee all the time, and it is 
broadband infrastructure, 5G service, public transportation. 
For those areas that don't have those amenities, is that a deal 
killer for venture capital? Jan, go ahead. You are nodding your 
head. Go ahead.
    Ms. Garfinkle. Yes, I mean, these startup companies need to 
be able to have all of the infrastructure readily available to 
be successful. If they are--it is difficult enough to do a 
startup. And if they don't have basic, you know, strong 
Internet, if they don't have a bus system or some way to get 
their workers to work, these things will kill the company, 
quite honestly. There is just no way to overcome such a major 
sort of things that should be available in order for their 
company to be successful.
    It absolutely has to be there. As I mentioned, we invest in 
health care and the high speed Internet to be able to deliver 
patient information instantaneously to the physicians that are 
working with our technologies, if that is not available, then 
it would be very, very difficult for our companies to succeed.
    Senator Tester. Cool, cool. I would--Ray Hespen, the 
description you gave of your company, I would imagine, good 
Internet service is pretty foundational. Would that be correct?
    Mr. Hespen. Senator, absolutely. And I think one of the 
things that is really important, we are fortunate to be part of 
an incubator that helps subsidize some of the broadband 
connectivity we had initially, because I can tell you when we 
kind of--when we went off on our own, there is a pretty 
massive, at least for us, a pretty large sticker shock. It is 
not the Internet service that you share at home and somebody 
gives you a gig Internet, and it is 60 bucks a month. It is 
very expensive.
    And so thinking about other entrepreneurs who are starting, 
maybe don't have an incubator, don't have access to that, but 
it is required, that could be a huge cost burden that could be 
pretty detrimental to the early startup.
    Senator Tester. Yes, it is interesting. And Mr. Chairman, 
that is something we should probably visit about some more. I 
mean we put billions and billions of dollars into the broadband 
service, but yet the rates that are charged are through the 
roof and I don't get it myself. But the same thing can be said 
about prescription drugs and a lot of other things. Anyway, 
thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the recognition. And I 
want to thank all of you for testifying today and appreciate 
the work you do.
    Senator Thune. Yes, sir. Thank you, Senator Tester. And 
yes, I agree. We have invested heavily in some of those areas, 
those technology areas that you would think would drive down 
some of the cost in parts of the country where some of these 
services aren't even available, and if they are, enormously at 
a high cost. But that is, as you said, a subject for another 
day. Let me just say again, I think we are waiting for Senator 
Young to connect, but let me just ask this of all of our 
panelists and maybe we can start, Mr. Hall, with you and Mr. 
Hespen.
    But earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg stated that he would 
not pick the Bay Area to build another startup, indicating that 
perhaps the next wave of innovation will occur outside of 
traditional hubs. The question is, do you agree? And if so, 
will the innovation be coming out of places like Michigan or 
Georgia or Hawaii or my home state of South Dakota. Will it 
look different than the innovative technologies of the past few 
decades?
    Mr. Hall. Thank you, Senator, for that incredible question, 
because we hear a lot about it and it has been foretold for 
years about this great Texodus of people leaving the Bay Area 
and sort of starting--you know, it is too early for us to have 
definitive conclusions around that. But I think that the 
innovation that we are seeing and I think that the opportunity 
that a lot of entrepreneurs are building companies in places 
like Kansas City--for example, one of our portfolio companies 
recently exited. They were building a company called Backlog 
Cars. They were building an auto--an online, used auto trading 
platform. And you can imagine, you know, in-person auto trading 
platforms are great until the pandemic hit and then nobody is 
going to trade a car at auction in person at all.
    And so this company was phenomenally successful. They have 
been successful for a while. They grew from the inside out. 
They took the lived experience known growing up in the industry 
and said this is what is going to work in all of America, as 
opposed to sometimes you see our colleagues, you know, backing 
companies in the coast saying, well, this is going to work 
really, really well in San Francisco. Well, turns out there are 
a lot of other communities that have very little in common with 
San Francisco.
    And so this inside out sort of phenomenon is one of the 
things that I think we will see more and more develop as the 
democratization of access to a lot of venture capital continues 
to grow. And, you know, Backlog Cars recently exited for a 
really good amount of money, and part of their return was that 
this is going to be good for Kansas City. And it is such a 
refreshing thing to hear founders say that, you know, I really 
am excited about sort of doubling down on my community, 
doubling down on the people that helped make me and helped make 
this company.
    So I think that there is going to be this--I hope the sort 
of the next generation of company founders and entrepreneurs 
lean into this notion that it is an ecosystem, they are part of 
a community, and that we are able to support these startups in 
some of these regions so that you can have more of those people 
that say a win for me, is a win for my hometown, and keep that 
flywheel turning.
    Senator Thune. Thank you. Mr. Hespen.
    Mr. Hespen. Thank you, Senator Thune, for the question. I 
think it comes down to solving, at least for us, a root issue, 
which is the personnel and the staffing that it is going to 
take to grow these companies. I mean, so if we are the company 
that keeps growing and having 100, 200 employees, there is 
going to be a real logistics question. Can we continue to do 
that in that area or do we have to open up a second office 
somewhere else?
    And so I think as we think about how this Texodus what is 
that, I like that, is impacting, I think we have really got to 
make sure that there is this community of these startups that 
are happening that keeps cross cultivating talent, attracting 
more talent. Because if that is a question that I think a 
company like us has, it is going to be a question for other 
people and it is going to prevent people from looking at, say, 
South Dakota saying that is a hub where we can start, grow all 
the way through a business until exit or public, whatever the 
exits might be for those investors and founders.
    Senator Thune. And what do you think is the solution to get 
that talent and personnel? I mean, the workforce is an issue we 
hear about all the time in South Dakota----.
    Mr. Hespen. So--I am sorry, Senator.
    Senator Thune. No, I was going to say it can be very 
limiting in terms of, you know, opportunities for people.
    Mr. Hespen. Yes, so I am very proud to say that we have 
recruited people from out of state, we recruited people from 
Oregon, North Carolina, we are pretty close to having somebody 
from Texas, another one from Colorado just recently. The big 
scary factor that a lot of them have is, if I am going to 
bring--you know, if you are a young person, you don't have 
families, you can take a risk, go to someplace, and if it 
doesn't work out, you move. But the problem changes when you 
sit there and go, I have got a family, I can't just pick up and 
move.
    So they need to have that belief that when they go to that 
place, that if it doesn't work out with this company, which 
hopefully it does, that there are more options available in 
that community, and that gives a little bit of sense of ease. 
Now, the interesting thing with everything happening, with 
Microsoft going more remote, Facebook going remote, it kind of 
creates some opportunities, at least in software where people 
don't feel like they are on an island in those areas because 
they can still get a job remotely with some of those companies.
    But I think that is the big thing. How do we create and 
lower the barrier that these people can feel comfortable moving 
to these areas when the local talent doesn't exist.
    Senator Thune. Great. Thank you. Ms. Garfinkle?
    Ms. Garfinkle. Thank you for admitting me. I really agree 
that I think COVID has made working remote acceptable, right. I 
mean, here we are doing this remotely. It is not ideal. Of 
course, people would rather be in a facility where you can 
interact and you can do all the fun stuff alongside just the 
work stuff that gets done on Zoom. It is very interesting to 
me, you know, with most of our, probably three quarters of our 
companies are off the coast, OK, but the other one quarter are 
on the coast. One thing that we have really recognized is that 
the cost structure off the coast is very beneficial to those 
startup companies. And actually the local economic development 
corporation here called Spark, which is in Ann Arbor, did a 
study and compared the cost to develop a company from concept 
to exit compared to a company in San Jose, California.
    So how much does it cost in Ann Arbor compared to San Jose? 
And it costs about a third less to develop it off the coast. 
But even though it costs a third less to do that, you still can 
sell it or have the same exact amount. It doesn't matter that 
it's off the coast when it sells. So that is super important 
because for the founders, for the management team, for all the 
employees that have stock options, they are able to get more 
money for those options because they are still selling it for 
the same amount, but they own more because it didn't take as 
much money going into it. So that is a super important, very 
critical factor.
    So a lot of entrepreneurs that we see, you know, in San 
Francisco and Boston, New York, they are from geographies that 
are not San Francisco, New York, and Boston. They are from 
areas in Michigan or Chicago or South Dakota or Nevada. They 
are from a lot of different geographies. Often as they have 
children, they want to go back to the areas where they grew up 
because they want to be closer to their grandparents--to the 
grandparents or to their parents, so that they their children 
can grow up with them also.
    So there is a strong desire by folks to go back to the 
areas they grew up in, create their own entrepreneurial company 
there, and I think COVID has really spurred that along, and 
they realize that they can be successful there and have a very 
nice outcome if they develop a successful company because of 
the cost structure that are in these different geographies.
    Senator Thune. Thank you. Ms. Lippert.
    Ms. Lippert. Thank you so much for that question. So we 
have seen the same thing across our companies and we had a CEO 
recently move back to Hawaii who grew up here and is raising 
his company, growing his company from Hawaii. And we also have 
sort of a new initiative where folks are asked to sign a pledge 
to essentially be good neighbors and contribute positively to 
the community when they come to Hawaii to work on tech here. So 
it is a really interesting moment right now. Won't last that 
long, but I think we can really capitalize on it as communities 
and capitalize on that talent that work other places, as others 
have said.
    And I will just give a couple of examples too of why I 
think there is a real advantage to developing companies off the 
coasts in addition to the cost structure, and in particular 
because of the work that we do around climate technology and 
clean energy, that exists everywhere. So whether it is clean 
water, energy, transportation, these are in every single 
community, which is one reason why I think climate technology 
is such an interesting place to look when you are looking at 
creating entrepreneurship opportunity and new jobs and new 
companies away from the coasts.
    So a couple of examples since we were talking about Kansas 
City, one of our portfolio companies, is called Neer. It was 
started by an immigrant in Kansas City, and a really 
interesting company that is developing software to help manage 
water infrastructure. And their target market really starts in 
Kansas City and Midwestern regions, and it is an excellent 
place to start a company like that. Another example is a 
company in our portfolio called Fervo, which is a geothermal 
innovation company.
    And so they go where the geothermal resource is, which is 
in Nevada or parts of California or other places where there is 
geothermal activity. So their economic development and all the 
value they are creating is by definition in these rural 
communities where there is really interesting geothermal 
resource. Now, I think it also just comes back to sort of the 
role of government in both seeding these technologies and then 
helping them on the regulatory side sort of get out of the way 
and clear barriers.
    You know, Fervo, for example, was trying to get a permit 
and would be delayed about 2 years in one of the places that 
they are trying to develop their geothermal plant. So all that 
economic development, all that job creation is delayed because 
the Bureau of Land Management has very long permitting times 
for geothermal. So these are some of the opportunities I think 
if we can think about how technology can really benefit and 
create jobs in these other regions, but there is an 
intersection with government and a role that we can play in 
helping them grow faster.
    Senator Thune. Thank you. I don't think we have been able 
to get Senator Young on. OK, great. So what we will do is, I 
think we have got through the members who wanted to ask 
questions, is we will keep the hearing record open for a couple 
of weeks. And we will make sure that Senators on the panel who 
have questions get them to you. And if you could get the 
responses back as quickly as possible, that too will be made a 
permanent part of the hearing record. So there will be some 
what we call QFRs, questions for the record that you all may be 
asked to respond to.
    And I just again want to say how much I appreciate you all 
being here. Is a great discussion. It is an important subject, 
a subject that bears not only on what happens in the economy 
here, but as we are trying to become more competitive globally, 
see countries like China that are investing heavily and seeing 
more startup businesses in that country, and if we are going to 
compete with them, I think we have got to figure out too, how 
to, as you all described it, to democratize or get more 
geographic balance in terms of where the investment is in this 
country so we have more startups who need the resources and the 
assets that obviously those with the capital bring.
    So good answers. Appreciate very much the discussion. And 
we will look forward to continuing that discussion in the 
future. But wish you all the very best. Hope you have a good 
holiday season. And in the case of Mr. Hespen, hope for 
continued growth in your company in South Dakota. And I am sure 
we can find some people, hopefully, if we need personnel and 
talent, who want to live in the beautiful Black Hills of South 
Dakota. So, we will keep trying to round them up, but you just 
keep hiring them. So thank you all very much. With that, this 
hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 4:20 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

                            A P P E N D I X

   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                               David Hall
    University Partnership. Universities in my home state of Arizona 
bring together students, faculty, and the community for cutting-edge 
research and innovation. The universities create fertile ground for new 
advancements and developments that can solve problems, build the 
economy, and create jobs in Arizona.

    Question 1. How can states and universities outside the traditional 
venture capital hubs harness that groundbreaking university research in 
order to expand entrepreneurship and create jobs here at home, rather 
than let those advancements move out of state?
    Answer. University innovation can't stop once a technology/IP isn't 
owned by the university; campuses must support all types of 
entrepreneurs. The same wrap-around programming that supports research-
based founders can support all kinds of entrepreneurs. Additionally, 
university systems across the country have used capital from their 
endowments to invest in venture capital firms that focus specifically 
on a campus or multiple campuses within a university system.
    Arizona State University serves as a great example for colleges and 
universities across the country. ASU President, Michael Crow, has made 
entrepreneurship and innovation a pillar of learning. We saw it first 
hand when we visited Phoenix on our fifth Rise of the Rest tour in 
2015.

    Tribal Communities. Across Indian Country, tribal communities are 
operating nation-owned enterprises and cultivating tribal citizen-owned 
businesses to prepare their people to access expanding job 
opportunities and build sustainable economies. In Arizona, I work 
closely with the Dineh Chamber of Commerce that provides a voice for 
Navajo-owned businesses, organizations, and governments doing business 
on the Navajo Nation. The work of the Dineh Chamber of Commerce creates 
opportunities that enable a successful business climate on the Navajo 
Nation.

    Question 2. How can we expand entrepreneurial opportunities in 
Indian Country, and is there a roll for Congress to play?
    Answer. I am not an expert in Indian Country Affairs, but I would 
believe that these ecosystems have several aspects in common with other 
smaller ecosystems, including driving towards improved network density, 
a belief which enables smaller ecosystems to pool resources and 
relationships to better access the opportunities more commonly found in 
larger markets. As these communities continue to seek access to startup 
and venture resources, partnering with other proximal organizations or 
institutions can substantially amplify their individual signals to be 
seen by more investors and entrepreneurs.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                             Raymond Hespen
    University Partnership. Universities in my home state of Arizona 
bring together students, faculty, and the community for cutting-edge 
research and innovation. The universities create fertile ground for new 
advancements and developments that can solve problems, build the 
economy, and create jobs in Arizona.

    Question 1. How can states and universities outside the traditional 
venture capital hubs harness that groundbreaking university research in 
order to expand entrepreneurship and create jobs here at home, rather 
than let those advancements move out of state?
    Answer. Thank you for the question Hon. Kyrsten Sinema. I'm not an 
expert on university research and what determines if a tech reaches 
commercialization, I can only speak to some examples I've seen. Usually 
it takes someone who is involved with the research to a) determine if 
there is a product-market fit, and b) someone to be willing to go 
through the steps at making that transition to monetize research. 
Fortunately, I've seen some examples of this, but what I would think 
would be critical is the ability to vet the majority of R&D at the 
universities for these items.

    Tribal Communities. Across Indian Country, tribal communities are 
operating nation-owned enterprises and cultivating tribal citizen-owned 
businesses to prepare their people to access expanding job 
opportunities and build sustainable economies. In Arizona, I work 
closely with the Dineh Chamber of Commerce that provides a voice for 
Navajo-owned businesses, organizations, and governments doing business 
on the Navajo Nation. The work of the Dineh Chamber of Commerce creates 
opportunities that enable a successful business climate on the Navajo 
Nation.

    Question 2. How can we expand entrepreneurial opportunities in 
Indian Country, and is there a roll for Congress to play?
    Answer. I appreciate the question but would be afraid I could lead 
your team down the wrong path. Someone who has managed to help Native-
American businesses transition from idea to business would be best 
suited to discuss the roadblocks and challenges specifically. As for 
any business, the support network around mentoring an early-stage 
business is always critical to getting investment. The infrastructure 
for that specifically in the Native-American communities is something 
that would need to be investigated.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                             Jan Garfinkle
    University Partnership. Universities in my home state of Arizona 
bring together students, faculty, and the community for cutting-edge 
research and innovation. The universities create fertile ground for new 
advancements and developments that can solve problems, build the 
economy, and create jobs in Arizona.

    Question 1. How can states and universities outside the traditional 
venture capital hubs harness that groundbreaking university research in 
order to expand entrepreneurship and create jobs here at home, rather 
than let those advancements move out of state?
    Answer. Universities across the country generate groundbreaking 
technologies, and many play a significant role in creating 
entrepreneurial opportunities that lead to the formation of successful 
new companies in local communities. But some play this role much more 
effectively than others. To unlock this potential, universities must 
develop robust and effective technology transfer practices that 
prioritize long-term economic growth over short-term revenue. 
Relationships with local venture capital investors, angel investors, 
and entrepreneurs are key towards achieving this goal.
    Based on our experience working with the University of Michigan, 
which sits a few minutes from our office and is a close collaborator, 
the first step in effectively harnessing university research is helping 
research projects transition into viable commercial entities. The 
University of Michigan launched a record 31 startups in 2020 by 
leveraging programs such as Michigan Translational Research and 
Commercialization (MTRAC), a committee composed of university leaders 
and local venture capitalists that provides guidance and non-dilutive 
funding to professors/graduate students who want to spin out and 
commercialize their research projects. MTRAC and similar initiatives 
help propel research projects ``over the hump'' and into the commercial 
arena and have directly led to dozens of local university spinout 
startups.
    Once university spinout startups have been established, states need 
to step up to ensure the spinouts and corresponding jobs stay local. A 
key action taken by the State of Michigan was providing support to the 
regional venture capital community. In our case, the early support 
Arboretum received from the State of Michigan (such as a $250,000 grant 
from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to cover the costs 
of raising a first fund) was instrumental in helping us get off the 
ground and kick off our track record of investing in local startups. 
The state also created a $95 million ``Venture Michigan'' fund to 
invest in VC firms that open offices in the state, which persuaded 
several regional funds to open Michigan offices and invest capital in 
Michigan startups, and in turn enabled Michigan startups to flourish at 
home. It also funded 10-15 new venture funds with headquarters in 
Michigan.
    Congress can support this critical economic development activity by 
increasing Federal basic research investment, encouraging greater angel 
investment, and supporting the formation of more venture capital funds 
in regions across the country. Pro-innovation policies such as the 
bipartisan, bicameral Endless Frontier Act would reprioritize a 
commitment to Federal basic research investment and technology 
commercialization efforts in emerging and critical technologies. The 
legislation supports innovation advancement in communities throughout 
the U.S. and leverages partnerships between universities and business 
leaders to develop and commercialize technology that will create and 
encourage greater economic activity.
    As outlined above, the participation of venture capital and angel 
investors are critical participants in these partnerships to ensure 
success in creating new companies and providing opportunities outside 
traditional tech hubs. For instance, the Developing and Empowering our 
Aspiring Leaders Act (DEAL Act) would help small VC funds across the 
country by allowing larger and later-stage VC funds to provide early-
stage liquidity to these funds without triggering regulatory 
challenges, helping improve their returns and raise new funds to invest 
in a new generation of companies. These changes are especially 
important today as industry data demonstrates a significant decline in 
first-time and seed financings during the ongoing global pandemic.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ NVCA Venture Monitor Q2 2020, available at https://
pitchbook.com/news/reports/q2-2020-pitchbook-nvca-venture-monitor.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Tax policy can be particularly powerful for these funds as well, 
and I encourage you to review the proposals I highlight in my written 
testimony that would support the creation and growth of regional VC 
funds.
    I would also encourage Arizona universities to apply for Venture 
Capital University, a program run by the National Venture Capital 
Association on venture finance, held in partnership with universities 
across the country. The program shines a spotlight on emerging 
ecosystems and expands the focus on VC beyond traditional venture hubs. 
VC University LIVE served more than 120 participants across its first 
two programs at the University of Michigan and Tulane University in 
2019. In November 2020, VC University LIVE was held virtually with 
Southern Methodist University (Dallas), with more than 60 participants.

    Tribal Communities. Across Indian Country, tribal communities are 
operating nation-owned enterprises and cultivating tribal citizen-owned 
businesses to prepare their people to access expanding job 
opportunities and build sustainable economies. In Arizona, I work 
closely with the Dineh Chamber of Commerce that provides a voice for 
Navajo-owned businesses, organizations, and governments doing business 
on the Navajo Nation. The work of the Dineh Chamber of Commerce creates 
opportunities that enable a successful business climate on the Navajo 
Nation.

    Question 2. How can we expand entrepreneurial opportunities in 
Indian Country, and is there a roll for Congress to play?
    Answer. There is much more Congress can do to encourage 
entrepreneurship and venture capital investment in Native American 
communities. Startups need high quality, reliable infrastructure to 
build cutting edge technology, attract the best talent, and quickly 
scale up. Investment in high-speed broadband, public transportation, 
and other critical infrastructure needs form the foundation of vibrant 
entrepreneurial ecosystems. In particular, broadband access in many 
underventured regions tends to be prohibitively slow, expensive, or 
both--barring talented entrepreneurs from launching innovative startups 
in these areas.
    Many students in Native American communities lack access to high 
quality science, technology, engineering and math education. Strong 
STEM education programs that connect students with innovators and 
provide hands-on engagement are a key feature of robust entrepreneurial 
ecosystems outside of traditional tech hubs. Policymakers should invest 
in STEM education with a particular focus on these communities to 
ensure that all students have the opportunity to pursue 
entrepreneurship in high-tech fields.
    Many of the points I make in my written testimony about university 
partnerships are also broadly applicable to increasing startup activity 
in and around tribal communities, as they are designed to jumpstart 
startup activity in emerging regions, which would include these 
communities.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                              Dawn Lippert
    University Partnership. Universities in my home state of Arizona 
bring together students, faculty, and the community for cutting-edge 
research and innovation. The universities create fertile ground for new 
advancements and developments that can solve problems, build the 
economy, and create jobs in Arizona.

    Question 1. How can states and universities outside the traditional 
venture capital hubs harness that groundbreaking university research in 
order to expand entrepreneurship and create jobs here at home, rather 
than let those advancements move out of state?
    Answer. Thank you for this question, Hon. Kyrsten Sinema. This is a 
powerful insight; universities play a vital role in driving innovation 
and entrepreneurship on a local and regional scale. We have identified 
three ways that universities can accelerate their effectiveness and 
help keep talent and resources in state.

  1.  Provide extracurricular innovation and entrepreneurship programs: 
        Programs and activities like entrepreneurship clubs and 
        competitions are excellent ways to expand the skill set of 
        students in order to prepare them for the workplace. The 
        Department of Energy Cleantech University Prize (DOE's 
        Cleantech UP) is a great example of this. It aims to inspire 
        and equip the next generation of clean energy entrepreneurs by 
        providing them with competitive funding for business 
        development, commercialization training and other educational 
        opportunities.

  2.  Create partnerships between industry and university: Internships, 
        job placements and networking opportunities through 
        partnerships with local universities are great for students to 
        practice and develop their entrepreneurial skills. They also 
        help build relationships in the community outside of their 
        university. For example, the Engineering department at 
        University of Hawaii at Manoa, partnered with the State 
        Department of Transportation to create a Hawaii Autonomous 
        Vehicle Institute and Traffic Control lab to develop the skill 
        set needed for local startup entrepreneurs and workforce. In 
        addition, a collaboration between the University's Office of 
        Innovation and Commercialization and the Navy co-created Hawaii 
        Tech Bridge, connecting local government and the university to 
        assist in solving problems for the Navy.

  3.  Ensure that technology transfer is set up for success: Many 
        university systems are still set up only to provide incentives 
        for research and publication. University technology transfer 
        offices can be restructured to incentivize the 
        commercialization of technology and intellectual property 
        developed within the university. Faculty and students need the 
        ability (and incentives) to license new technology or spin out 
        a startup. University support systems such as proof-of-concept 
        funds and on-campus incubators can also help provide the soft 
        support needed to help faculty and students make the leap into 
        entrepreneurship.

    Tribal Communities. Across Indian Country, tribal communities are 
operating nation-owned enterprises and cultivating tribal citizen-owned 
businesses to prepare their people to access expanding job 
opportunities and build sustainable economies. In Arizona, I work 
closely with the Dineh Chamber of Commerce that provides a voice for 
Navajo-owned businesses, organizations, and governments doing business 
on the Navajo Nation. The work of the Dineh Chamber of Commerce creates 
opportunities that enable a successful business climate on the Navajo 
Nation.

    Question 2. How can we expand entrepreneurial opportunities in 
Indian Country, and is there a roll for Congress to play?
    Answer. Thank you so much for the question, Hon. Kyrsten Sinema.
    At Elemental Excelerator, we advance solutions to climate change 
and work with communities who need them the most. Low median income 
communities are typically last to see the benefits of climate 
innovations and are even less likely to be asked to be part of the 
conversation in implementing solutions.
    One of our projects working with indigenous communities was with 
SOURCE (formerly Zero Mass Water) where we worked with an indigenous 
majority-owned and -managed business called Waddi Springs to prove a 
new community scale water purchase agreement in drought-ridden 
Queensland, Australia. With our funding, SOURCE was able to deploy 600 
hydropanels in the span of 4 months where a conventional water 
treatment plant would've taken at least a decade. This project has the 
capacity to produce 119,000 gallons of drinking water and displace 
approximately 748,000 plastic water bottles per year and also created 
new workforce opportunities for native Aboriginals in the area.
    Regardless of where the project or community is located, we've 
found that the best way to engage and expand opportunities is to 
partner deeply with community leaders. We look to the leadership of 
collaborative organizations who work with local communities to 
establish sustainable practices for the stewardship of the land and 
ecosystems while growing economic opportunities. We admire 
organizations like Nia Tero, a global collaborative designed to 
directly advance indigenous peoples' and local communities' stewardship 
of vital ecosystems around the world, and Sealaska, a for-profit Alaska 
Native Regional Corporation with shareholders of primarily indigenous 
descent. We encourage Congress to find ways to support such 
organizations and give Native-owned businesses a voice, as the Dineh 
Chamber of Commerce has done in Arizona.

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