It was a good week for Delaware business. We saw home-grown SevOne get a $150 million investment from the Bain Capital private equity firm. SevOne has technology that monitors complex computer systems of large companies. It was the largest such investment seen in years in Delaware.
The investment will help SevOne, based in Pike Creek, build a larger presence in an area of information technology where size matters. The company already has large clients like Comcast, but with the added investment other potential customers may be more comfortable using its products.
Another Delaware company, ILC Dover, announced plans to move the manufacturing operations of newly acquired Grayling Industries from Juarez, Mexico to a former DuPont site near Seaford. Then on Friday, we saw the ceremonial ribbon cutting in downtown Wilmington for the Delaware Start It Up program, a public private partnership designed to turn technology ideas into commercial enterprises.
The event featured quick pitches to the audience with the winner getting a case of Red Bull energy drink and Ramen noodles.
The one common element in the three pieces of news was the involvement of the State of Delaware.
The state’s Strategic Fund program assists everything from start-ups to businesses relocating or expanding in Delaware.
While most of the headlines on the strategic fund have involved money for Bloom Energy, the stalled Fisker auto plant and the Delaware City Refinery, a steady stream of funding has aided small and medium-sized companies in the state.
It would be better if states and local governments did not get into the business of dangling incentives in front of companies. But Delaware has no choice but to play the game. Under Gov. Jack Markell and Delaware Economic Development Office, the state has done a masterful job of investing in companies that will bring jobs with a quick payback in the form of added income tax revenue.
Fisker remains a big question mark, but chances are good that the state would recover a portion of its investment. At present, Fisker is conserving cash that could be used in recouping more than $20 million from the state.
The need for an aggressive stance on jobs was borne out by another piece of news rom the past week.
The latest jobs report from the Delaware Department of Labor showed a 6.9 percent unemployment rate.
That remains a percentage point below the national figure. At the same time, the rate of job growth remains well below an anemic national figure.
Without the Strategic Fund, the job growth figure would have been even lower.
