The District’s CAPCO program, a $50 million venture fund dedicated to Washington-based startup companies, has invested nearly $14 million in 11 companies since the program’s launch 18 months ago. While the program has far exceeded its initial goal of investing 20 percent by May 2007, it has only added one new company to the CAPCO portfolio in the last six months.
The city’s Certified Capital Co., or CAPCO, was started in May 2005 to bring a much-needed infusion of funding to D.C. companies, which often lose out in the race for capital to start-ups in Northern Virginia and Maryland. The CAPCO program — a program that exists in numerous states as a means of stimulating economic development — is funded through local insurance companies that provide the cash in exchange for tax breaks.
