It was a cold winter in 2021, but things were even chillier inside a nondescript building on the outskirts of The Plains, Ohio. There, Stirling Ultracold hosted some unique visitors: COVID-19 vaccines.

The privately owned company had pioneered ultra-low temperature (“ULT”) mechanical freezers that were used to keep the vaccines stable for more extended periods. It was a lucrative business, one that, by the spring, was an attractive acquisition for the publicly traded BioLife Solutions.

TechGROWTH Ohio, a flagship program of Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, was the lead investor in Stirling Ultracold’s first round of financing. The commercial development of cooling engines in the freezers was also advanced by state funds, which the Voinovich School helped secure.

In the wake of Stirling Ultracold’s merger, the company’s founding CEO, Neill Lane, built on his long commitment to local employment and impact by joining regional investment groups and researching prior investment activity in Athens.

On the basis of considerable research, in 2023 Lane worked with fellow successful founders and owners to establish a new local angel investment fund: the Athens Ohio Investment Alliance (AOIA). Improving upon earlier such funds aided by TechGROWTH Ohio, AOIA is providing mentorship and competitively-selected funding to promising entrepreneurs.

AOIA, in collaboration with TechGROWTH Ohio and multiple other service organizations, is a strong regional entrepreneurial ecosystem that fuels economic growth and job creation across the Appalachian mid-Ohio Valley.

TechGROWTH is a vital AOIA collaborator, vetting companies throughout southeast Ohio.

“AOIA’s goal is to find local startups, and sometimes that’s a challenge,” says Lane. “I think one of the things TechGROWTH brings for us is that, in addition to the investment, they assist in identifying potential investments; they’re further up in the pipeline, so they get to see opportunities sometimes before we do.”

“We want to be able to share investment opportunities that arise with other funds where we might be mutually interested,” says Lynn Gellermann, executive director of TechGROWTH Ohio. “We’re interested in public/private partnerships and reinvestment. Wealth creation begets reinvestment in multiple and generational ways, hopefully creating sustained economic growth, jobs, and new technologies for the benefit of society.”

With recently awarded funding from Ohio Third Frontier, TechGROWTH Ohio became an $80 million program providing advanced venture development services, seed-stage capital, and talent to tech-based startup companies and entrepreneurs. The program has generated $1 billion in economic impact, serving nearly 2,500 entrepreneurs, while bringing in almost 1,000 jobs with an average salary of $50,000.

Currently, TechGROWTH Ohio and AOIA are working with two clients to evaluate potential co-investment opportunities: a digital pathology company that uses computer-generated specimen slides born out of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and a marketing engagement software company designed for vacation property owners and their customers.  Two of TechGROWTH Ohio’s most recent investments are in medical device companies focused on women’s health, bone density measurement, and post-lumpectomy surgical recovery areas.

Seed capital funds like TechGROWTH Ohio and angel funds like AOIA will continue to play a crucial role in establishing more investment capital and attracting outside capital from outside the region and state. AOIA has over 40 members who contribute their expertise and capital for small business investing.

“We look at deals together and try to assess opportunities,” says Gellermann. “We do this with a sense of purpose so people across southeast Ohio can directly participate in our growing tech-based economy.”