Orange County will kick in $100,000 to a venture-capital fund to keep home-grown tech companies from leaving town.
The fund, known as FireSpring, was started with a $250,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and modeled after similar efforts in Cleveland and Pittsburgh that have attracted investors for tech start-ups in those cities.
In her pitch to commissioners, FireSpring’s executive director, Donna Mackenzie, backed by a cadre of entrepreneurs who could benefit from the fund, said Central Florida has lots of brainy innovators with good ideas but little money to turn their dreams into reality.
