GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY ANNOUNCES INVESTMARYLAND CHALLENGE

Announces first InvestMaryland investment

Governor launches $300,000 InvestMaryland Challenge business plan competition

BETHESDA, MD - At Bethesda-based BrainScope today, the latest stop on the “Jobs and Opportunity” Tour, Governor Martin O’Malley highlighted InvestMaryland, the State’s pioneering $84 million venture capital initiative, as a prime example of why Maryland is well-positioned for success in the New Economy. The Governor also announced that BrainScope has earned InvestMaryland’s first venture capital financing, and launched the InvestMaryland Challenge – a $300,000 business competition to help identify and support new start-ups in Maryland.

Recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranked Maryland #1 in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and cited InvestMaryland as one of the “Policies that Produce.”

“In Maryland, we choose to make the modern investments a modern economy requires: educating, innovating, and rebuilding for our children’s future,” said Governor O’Malley. “We know that our greatest assets are the talents, skills, creativity and ingenuity of our people. InvestMaryland is an important part of our overall strategy to nurture the State’s Innovation Economy by investing in our competitive advantages like science and technology and encouraging entrepreneurship. Our investment in BrainScope and the launch of the InvestMaryland Challenge demonstrate that we believe in aspiring entrepreneurs and Maryland’s ability to compete and win in the New Economy.”