Three years ago Mac Nagaswami needed money to grow his business. Enter a trio of local investors who provided the University of Delaware alumnus and his business partner, another UD graduate, with the funding they required to expand their mobile billboard company, Carvertise.

“That was enough of a kick start that we needed to really start pursuing growth,” Nagaswami said to a crowd assembled on UD’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus on Thursday, May 24.

The group of 100 gathered to witness the signing of Delaware House Bill 170. The new law, which goes by the catchier “Angel Investor Job Creation and Innovation Act,” establishes a refundable tax credit for qualified investors in Delaware small businesses to spur job creation and innovation. Angel investment describes the earliest sort of funding entrepreneurs can receive. This seed money helps companies develop into going concerns that might later attract venture capital.

The governor chose to sign the bipartisan bill on UD’s STAR Campus in the lobby adjacent to DTP@STAR, a business incubator that is home to 14 fledgling enterprises.

“Realizing the potential of the STAR Campus takes more than just a belief that ‘if you build it, they will come,’ ” UD President Dennis Assanis said. “We have to draw people here through a combination of bold vision, strategic investment and attractive incentives.”

STAR Campus offers tremendous potential with just a handful of its 272 acres occupied. At the moment three major construction initiatives are underway: the Tower at STAR; UD’s new Biopharmaceutical Innovation Building and Chemours’ new research and development facility. The building boom thrilled bill co-sponsor, Delaware Rep. Bryon Short (D-Highland Woods).

“There’s five cranes on this site,” he noted calling the new legislation “another strategic move by our state to ensure that we are the most competitive state in the region.”

Delaware Gov. John Carney likes the sound of that. His focus, he said, is on enhancing Delaware’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. There’s a new order to business in a state that was once heavily reliant on a few major corporations for the bulk of its residents’ employment. Now, Carney said, the state’s toolkit for attracting and retaining employers needs to expand and the public sector must team up with the private sector to be successful.

Carney harkened back to his days as an assistant UD football coach where he taught Blue Hens about the “Wing-T offense” that had the quarterback playing a pivotal role.

“He was handing the ball off,” Carney said. “He was running options. He was throwing the ball. That’s the way I feel my role is here in this environment. It’s to enable all of you to be more successful, to hand the ball off to someone who can run it up the middle.”

Bill co-sponsor Delaware Rep. Mike Ramone (R-Pike Creek Valley) also spoke to competitive advantages. He said the First State is “smaller, faster, better” with an “incomparable geographic” location.

“What we need is to motivate people to build and start and set their seed in our state and let it grow,” Ramone said. “And, I believe this bill does exactly that.”

For its part, Carvertise’s seed in firmly rooted. The company, which began with two people, now employs 16 and does business in 40 states, advertising companies from small shops all the way to giants including Crayola and Amazon.