Governor’s budget would shift life‑sciences research funds into year one and add $35 million for infrastructure and training

At a Senate Finance and Appropriations subcommittee meeting, Joe Benevento, president and CEO of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC), told members the governor’s introduced budget would shift previously authorized life‑sciences research funds from the second fiscal year into the first fiscal year and would add $35 million in new, one‑time funding for workforce training and infrastructure in regions across the Commonwealth.

Benevento said the shift does not increase the original $90 million appropriation enacted earlier by the General Assembly but accelerates year‑two funding into year one; he described the $35 million as “incremental new funding” that targets scale‑up facilities and workforce programs needed to retain commercialization and production locally. “The proposed amendment brings forward and shifts the year 2 funding…into year 1,” Benevento said. “This is one‑time funding.”

The change matters, VIPC staff and subcommittee members said, because life‑sciences startups often require specialized lab space, equipment and hands‑on training. Benevento cited planned allocations included in the governor’s proposal: $12.5 million to Virginia State University to build an advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing training center; $12.5 million for a Charlottesville scale‑up accelerator; funds to refurbish a cell and gene therapy facility in Roanoke; and support for Civica’s second manufacturing line for low‑cost insulin. Benevento said partners have committed at least 1:1 outside matching funds for the projects, and in some cases higher matches.

VIPC’s presentation to the subcommittee also updated members on federal and investment programs the authority is managing. Benevento reviewed Virginia’s award under the U.S. Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), saying the Commonwealth was allocated up to $230 million across loan and venture‑equity subprograms. He told the panel the venture equity component has nearly exhausted its first tranche of funding and that Virginia must reach an 80 percent deployment threshold on the first tranche to request the next tranche. The program is managed in partnership with the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority (SBFA).

Benevento described Virginia Invests, a VIPC program that leverages SSBCI venture equity dollars to attract out‑of‑state fund managers and their co‑investor networks to invest in Virginia startups. He said those fund partnerships bring capital and ecosystem commitments, citing examples such as 100KM funding an HBCU partnership, Artemis Fund hiring female venture fellows, and Veteran Ventures Capital committing to roundtables for veteran entrepreneurs. Benevento said the Virginia Invests program uses federal grant dollars and not a state appropriation.

On broader measures of progress, Benevento told members that since VIPC’s 2020 founding the Commonwealth has seen a recent rise in new high‑growth startups and in early‑stage venture capital inflows; he cited third‑party data and said VIPC’s investment activity has catalyzed private follow‑on investment. He said VIPC’s investment division has been associated with more than $2 billion of private investment flowing into Virginia startups and that the program’s capital has typically leveraged many multiples in private dollars.

Committee staff also provided an overview of other governor’s introduced items in commerce and trade. Kendra, a staff member who presented for committee staff, summarized additional economy‑focused proposals in the introduced budget, including a proposed $50 million addition in the second year for the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program, allocations for early learning space grants and a proposed tourism sports events grant program. “There’s an additional $50,000,000 in the second year for the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program,” Kendra said.

Members asked about VIPC’s role in allocating the new life‑sciences funds and how board decisionmaking would operate. Benevento said VIPC is being asked to act as a funding pass‑through for the life‑sciences allocations; final deployment decisions for the named projects (for example, VSU, UVA, VCU, Civica and the City of Roanoke) will be made by the recipient partners and their agreements rather than by VIPC’s board. He also said VIPC will hold quarterly meetings with university partners under newly drafted memoranda of understanding beginning in 2025 to coordinate research, commercialization and non‑duplication of assets.

No formal subcommittee votes were recorded during the presentation. Members and staff indicated the presentation will inform further review as the subcommittee continues its budget deliberations.

Ending: The subcommittee’s staff review and VIPC’s update leave the governor’s life‑sciences amendments and the SSBCI deployment schedule as items for continued committee review; VIPC and partner institutions will proceed with planning and matching commitments while legislative and treasury deployment requirements are completed.