Deborah Hemingway Joins Management Team of the MDC-Verte Impact Fund
Dr. Deborah Hemingway PhD has joined the leadership of the newly established MDC-Verte Impact Fund. The Fund was created by Dr. Hemingway, Dr. Leonard Mills PhD, and MDC Partner Dr. Jonathan Pearl as an Opportunity Zone investment fund, focusing on MDC client companies. MDC and all its resident client companies are located in a Baltimore OZ.
Dr. Mills is the founder of the Verte Opportunity Zone Fund, which has made several investments around the country. The new Impact Fund will focus on MedTech companies located in OZ's in Baltimore. As the Impact Fund develops it will make investments in other OZ's.
"Deborah brought great ideas and energy to MDC during her time as CEO. She recognized the critical importance of an investment fund to the future of MDC and its client companies. We are very grateful to Deborah for her leadership and commitment." said Gil Blankenship CEO of MDC.
About MDC-Verte Impact Fund
The MDC-Verte Impact Fund, a joint initiative between the MDC-Studio (of Baltimore, MD) and the Verte OZ Fund, Inc (of College Park, MD), will focus on providing capital to support innovation in the earliest stages of development. Capital in the early stages from Friends and Family through Seed is often a limiting factor in launching a medtech startup due to the resource-intensive nature of deep-tech innovation. The MDC-Verte Impact Fund focuses on the early stages to bridge the gap between idea and traditional VC funding.
Federally-designated opportunity zones are found throughout the United States and include many locations in Maryland. Startups located in these historically economically distressed zones have a commitment to creating jobs, fostering innovation, and creating social impact in the area. Opportunity Zone (OZ) investments are commonly utilized by real estate developers; however, the statute also supports investments in companies in OZs.
About the MDC Studio
The MDC Studio is the operational unit of the Maryland Development Center Partnership, which was founded in 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. MDC Studio functions as a MedTech Startup Studio that provides engineering support, business development services, and funding to create and support companies commercializing medical devices. The Studio works with inventors to develop their ideas into working prototypes and marketable products and form companies that will grow and create value for both their shareholders and all of society. MDC Studio Baltimore is located in the historic Wilkens-Robins building in the heart of Baltimore, near the University of Maryland Medical Center, and Johns Hopkins University where MDC’s founding partners and affiliates practice, teach, and research state of the art surgery and medicine.