The Department of Defense Office of Strategic Capital is scheduled to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Small Business Administration’s Office of Investment and Innovation over financial support for relevant technologies.
OSC and OII will finalize the MOA on March 10 to advance their partnership for the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative, DOD announced Tuesday.
The initiative leverages SBA’s SBIC program, which aims to bolster early-stage investment in biotechnology, semiconductors, advanced materials, and other critical technologies that require lower return on investment but longer duration for small or mid-sized enterprises.
OSC intends to use SBICCT to attract private capital investment to complete objectives under the National Security Strategy.
“The partnership with the SBA has been fantastic, we’ve been able to bring back the SBIC program for national security to make investment opportunities in early-stage technology companies and capital-intensive small businesses addressing today’s most pressing national security supply chain needs,” OSC Director Jason Rathje commented. “By licensing new limited partnerships that are vertically focused on deep technology areas, we can leverage new investment funds to provide patient sources of capital for these critical technologies.”