https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7414792997810348033

Governor Pillen just unfroze and boosted BIA funding: $12M → $15M/year (link to the announcement in the comments).

The ROI data makes his decision a no-brainer
– $1 → $5.75 in private investment
– 1,108 jobs created (avg wage $67K)
– $517M annual economic impact

Invest Nebraska and the Greater Omaha Chamber made this happen — along with so many others (looking at you Laurel Oetken). So Omaha-Lincolnians (and all Nebraskans), let’s take a moment to celebrate.

And then get back to work: BIA is not just startup funding. It’s leverage. The UNeTech Institute companies have used BIA funds to:

🔬 Precision Syringe – BIA → FDA work → private Omaha investment
🫁 RespirAI Medical – BIA → matched international investment → made possible the $1M international collaboration with Right at Home (link in the comments)
💪 Impower Health Inc – BIA → matching national investors → pilots start this year!
🩺 University Medical Devices – BIA → critical seed round → MicroWash is now on the market!!

BIA doesn’t replace outside capital. It attracts it.

Investors (around the world) see BIA backing and think: “Nebraska’s government believes in this company. Maybe we should too.”

The $3M increase matters because it gives us more matches to make. But the strategy stays the same:

✅ Use BIA to de-risk
✅ Use de-risking to attract outside capital
✅ Use outside capital to scale beyond what Nebraska can fund alone

Huzzah for the advocacy. Huzzah for Invest Nebraska. Huzzah for the ecosystem.

Now let’s close some more rounds.

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