By Opportunity Zone Magazine staff
Hall Labs, the Provo, Utah-based research and development hub known for creating the world’s first man-made diamond, is giving Opportunity Zone investors a chance to buy into a portfolio of start-ups created to commercialize the lab’s innovations.
A new $100-million Opportunity Zone fund, Hall Opportunity Fund 1, has been set up to support the initiative. It will help bankroll about a dozen early-stage companies working with Hall Labs’ technologies to commercialize everything from AI-powered toilets to sporty motor-trikes.
That’s an attractive proposition for super-HNWIs and family offices that can enjoy OZ tax benefits while netting the plus-sized returns expected by venture investors, says Hall Venture Partners CFO Matt Van Dyke.
“Looking at a venture return profile versus real estate, your return profile’s going to be a lot better in venture,” he says.
Another bonus for investors: While the companies in which the fund invests are all based on Hall’s Provo campus, located in an Opportunity Zone, they will grow to do business nationally or globally. That means investment performance isn’t tied to the demographic or economic strength of a single neighborhood or city, but rather to the broader economy.
“Even though we’re bringing all the benefits into the Opportunity Zone that the IRS prescribes, we’re attacking a global market with our technologies and companies,” Van Dyke says.
The foray into OZ fundraising is a financial innovation that’s in keeping with Hall Labs’ 64-year record of commercializing groundbreaking technologies, says Hall Labs Managing Director Michael Hall, the grandson of the lab’s founder.
“Hall Labs is always looking for ways to transform technology and lives,” Hall said in a statement. “I am excited to see what our model of business can bring forward over the next 64 years.”