Venture capital funds participating in a Georgia rural jobs program say they have created or retained roughly 1,400 jobs, according to the state program's most recent annual report.
The Georgia Agribusiness and Rural Jobs Act (GARJA), first passed in 2017, was created to help spur investment into Georgia's rural counties by leveraging state tax dollars. The state agreed to dole out $60 million in tax credits over several years to five venture capital firms who in turn match with $40 million of their own and invest in rural businesses throughout Georgia.
The report completed this month by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs comes after a bill that would have renewed the program with millions more in tax credits failed to pass in the Georgia General Assembly's legislative session that closed April 4.
