Idaho Has More Capital Than You Think
Blake Hansen · RizeX Monthly Mastermind · Eastern Idaho
Most Idaho entrepreneurs believe they have to leave the state to find serious money. Blake Hansen, angel investor and co-author of the Idaho Equity Report, came to the RizeX Mastermind with data that challenges that story — and a direct ask for Eastern Idaho’s business community to start telling it differently.
What Blake Covered
The Idaho Equity Report. Since 2013, Blake and his team at Alturas have tracked every public and private financing transaction over $50,000 in Idaho. In 2018 alone, they documented 163 deals totaling $1.7 billion — and that’s the conservative number. With 37% of transactions having undisclosed amounts, the real total could be closer to $2.9 billion. Adjust for unreported deals and you’re potentially looking at $4 billion in capital activity in Idaho in a single year. On a per capita basis, Idaho holds its own against Utah — a fact almost nobody in the state is talking about.
Eastern Idaho Is in the Data. Fourteen deals were tracked in Eastern Idaho in the most recent report, including companies like Biologic, Hotshot Falls Water Company, Yost, Red Giant Oil, and Nano Steel. Blake acknowledged there are almost certainly more deals happening that never get reported — and asked the room to help surface them.
The Full Capital Stack. Blake walked through every stage of the capital continuum available to Idaho companies — not just the venture capital headline everyone fixates on. The real opportunity for most early-stage businesses in the room runs through friends and family, crowdfunding, SBDC resources, IGEM grants (which pair entrepreneurs with university partners for concept validation), non-dilutive government grants, revenue-based financing through groups like Sage Growth Capital and MOFI, SBA micro-lending, and angel investment. A Boise startup Blake worked with bootstrapped to $500,000 in non-dilutive financing entirely through government grants and competitions — no San Francisco required.
The Exit Problem Nobody Talks About. Blake raised a harder conversation: when Idaho companies exit, the wealth rarely spreads. Two recent examples — a $500 million private equity deal and a $917 million acquisition — minted a handful of millionaires with no employee option pools. Compare that to what happens in Seattle or Salt Lake, where a single exit can create dozens of single-digit millionaires who then reinvest in the next wave of startups. Blake’s argument: Idaho entrepreneurs can do better, and the ones starting companies today have the opportunity to change that pattern.
What the Room Walked Away With
Blake made two specific asks. First, when you know about a financing deal happening locally — a raise, an acquisition, anything — let him know so it gets into the Idaho Equity Report and Eastern Idaho gets proper credit for its capital activity. Second, if anyone in the room is interested in starting an angel investing group in Eastern Idaho, he wants to be part of it. He connects founders with capital regularly and writes checks himself — reach out directly.
For companies looking at non-dilutive options, MOFI (mofi.com) and Sage Growth Capital are two active revenue-based financers working across the state with pre-bankable businesses. IGEM grants through Idaho universities are another underused resource worth exploring for early-stage concept validation.
A Moment That Landed
Blake told the story of Pro Clarity’s sale to Microsoft — the conventional narrative being that Microsoft pulled all 85 employees to Washington two years later and Idaho saw nothing. Someone actually went back and tracked every one of those 85 people. Only 10 had left Idaho. Three had started new companies. Seven were C-suite executives at startups. The exits we fear are actually seeding the next generation of Idaho entrepreneurs. We just haven’t been telling that story.
“Idaho companies are growing, thriving, and attracting capital from across the globe — and they’re coming here to little Idaho.” — Blake Hansen
“We don’t have to look very far to see Idahoans supporting other Idaho companies. That conversation needs to happen more.” — Blake Hansen
About Blake
Blake Hansen is an angel investor who has been putting money into Idaho companies since 2011 and co-produces the annual Idaho Equity Report through the Idaho Technology Council. He grew up connected to Eastern Idaho — his mother is from Rigby, his grandmothers from Star Valley and Pocatello — and has a genuine stake in seeing this region build the entrepreneurial infrastructure it deserves.
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The RizeX Monthly Mastermind meets every month in Eastern Idaho — an intimate gathering of local business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals committed to real growth. Every event features a speaker who’s in the trenches alongside you, plus time for meaningful conversation and connection.