WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) reintroduced the Scale-Up Manufacturing Investment Company Act, legislation to nurture innovation in our entrepreneurs and help bring manufacturing jobs back home by increasing access to capital for small manufacturers seeking to scale up their operations.

Lack of access to capital pushes emerging entrepreneurs to produce their advanced manufacturing technologies abroad in other nations that provide financing opportunities for scaling manufacturers. Not only does this migration drain the United States of innovative manufacturing capabilities, it also causes us to lose out on high-paying, high-skilled manufacturing jobs that accompany the commercialization of new ideas. We must do more to keep these jobs and opportunities for innovation here at home.

“Decades of bad trade deals and offshoring have hollowed out domestic manufacturing, and we must start giving American businesses the tools they need to build, create jobs, scale, and stay competitive—at home,” said Senator Booker. “If we continue to fall short in this space, our competitors will fill the vacuum and America will lose out on these engines for innovation and job growth. This legislation will help our manufacturing sector thrive and bring good-paying jobs home by providing resources for manufacturers, entrepreneurs and small businesses to innovate on a larger scale.”

Nearly half of the American workforce is employed by small businesses. As of 2024, small businesses employ 45.9% of the U.S. workforce, approximately 59 million people, and have long served as engines of job creation and innovation. To survive in today’s increasingly competitive economy, entrepreneurs often must expand quickly, growing on their own or in collaboration with larger firms to help scale-up their innovations into commercialized products which often require highly complex, advanced manufacturing capabilities that demand more time and capital to scale than nonproduction firms. However, our nation’s financing mechanisms have not kept up with this changing landscape and make it difficult for these companies to find the capital needed to demonstrate viability of their technology at a commercial scale.

The Scale-Up Manufacturing Investment Company Act would:

  1. Establish a new federal investment program under the SBA to provide matching capital (leverage) to private investment funds supporting U.S.-based manufacturing scale-up projects.
  2. Create a licensing and selection process for “participating investment funds” with rigorous criteria including track record, capital raised, and experience in manufacturing.
  3. Authorize up to $1 billion per year in SBA leverage, capped at $500 million per fund, with a required minimum of $250 million in private capital per participating fund.
  4. Funds must invest in “qualifying manufacturing projects” that build first commercial production facilities or scale novel manufacturing technologies, with limitations on investment concentration and leverage use.
  5. Implement strong oversight through regular audits, reporting, independent valuations, and provisions for fund discipline and SBA enforcement.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.