By Anne Cosgrove
From the January/February 2025 Issue
As 2024 came to a close, Eli Lilly and Company announced its plan to invest $3 billion to expand a Kenosha County, Wisconsin manufacturing facility it acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals Inc. earlier that year. Lilly expects to add 750 jobs to the location’s current 130-plus workforce. And the company plans to start construction on the expansion next year, creating an expected 2,000 construction jobs.
“Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines right here in the Midwest,” said Executive Vice President and President of Lilly Manufacturing Operations Edgardo Hernandez at the time. “We look forward to bringing high-wage, advanced manufacturing, engineering and science jobs to people in Wisconsin, a state that is becoming a critical geography in our global manufacturing operations.”
Governor Tony Evers welcomed Lilly’s investment news: “Southeastern Wisconsin has seen tremendous growth over the past year with major companies announcing significant expansions, and we are thrilled to add Lilly to that growing list with their $3 billion expansion that will add 750 highly-skilled, family-supporting jobs to Kenosha County. As a U.S. Regional Tech Hub, Wisconsin is a national leader in personalized medicine and biohealth, and through this partnership with Lilly, we’re going to keep advancing research and innovation and bolstering Wisconsin’s manufacturing industry, all while supporting workers, families, and patients across the state and the world.”
While Wisconsin is growing its economic landscape with investments from the likes of Lilly, the state is also focused on boosting the business climate for companies of all sizes. In May 2024, Governor Tony Evers, along with Missy Hughes, Secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), announced a step forward in supporting Wisconsin entrepreneurs with the launch of the Wisconsin Investment Fund, a public-private venture capital initiative that will initially invest $100 million in startup businesses throughout the state.
“Wisconsin has always been a leader in bringing great, innovative ideas to the world,” said Hughes. “To make those ideas a reality and drive our state’s economy forward, innovators need capital. This public-private effort puts a stake in the ground that Wisconsin is committed to entrepreneurship and innovation.”
The venture capital firms will match each dollar of public funds with at least one dollar of private money, which will initially double the state’s investment impact, with $50 million. The state’s return on these investments will be reinvested into the Wisconsin Investment Fund.
The U.S. Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) is providing the $50 million that will make up the state’s portion of the investment fund. Wisconsin’s fund will invest in companies working in technology, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and other areas. As required by the SSBCI program, Wisconsin’s fund is targeting significant support for diverse businesses and companies located in underserved areas of investment.
A particular focus will be biohealth, with at least $27 million of the initial investment allocated to the sector. Last year, the U.S. Economic Development Administration designated Wisconsin as a U.S. Regional Tech Hub for personalized medicine and biohealth technology, which opens the door to up to $75 million in new federal funding to help accelerate research and development.
Wisconsin Investment Fund Committee members reviewed applications from 31 fund managers in a competitive bidding process and selected the final investment firms. The five private fund partners are below, with a sixth fund partner expected.
Madison-based HealthX Ventures invests in innovative companies making healthcare safer, more efficient, and more affordable by delivering easy-to-use, cost-effective, and scalable solutions to the market. HealthX was founded by Mark Bakken and is led by seasoned, successful entrepreneurs and investors. The team provides exceptional value to portfolio companies through extensive operational support, deep industry knowledge, and executive-level networking.
Venture Investors Health Fund, based in Madison and Milwaukee, focuses on commercializing early-stage healthcare innovations developed in the world-class research universities of the U.S. Midwest, such as the University of Wisconsin and Medical College of Wisconsin. Areas of focus are medical devices, therapeutics, digital health, and diagnostics.
Based in Champaign, Illinois, Serra Ventures focuses on investments in early-stage, emerging, and growth-stage technology companies in the Midwest. WEDC funds will only be used in Wisconsin.
NVNG, based in Madison and Milwaukee, is dedicated to making Wisconsin’s startup ecosystem globally competitive.
The Idea Fund of La Crosse is a venture capital firm based in La Crosse dedicated to investing in pre-revenue and early-stage technology companies in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. The firm focuses on software startups serving diverse markets, reflecting the region’s employment base. The Idea Fund has invested in 15 portfolio companies and currently manages $45 million on behalf of its limited partners.
