Private Equity Startup Offers Small Scale Public Development Investments

Detroit-based investment company, Cooperative Capital, is offering a new kind of investment in small scale community projects. The firm aims to pool community resources from investors who put in as little as $1,000 and get their input on what to fund.

This for-profit development company looks to leverage a Kickstarter-like dynamic and allow citizens to crowd fund projects they'd like to see happen that might not get funding otherwise. "The first fund, which will likely launch this spring or summer, involved a challenging process of working with state regulators. But with that regulatory hurdle cleared, it should be easier to launch similar funds in other Michigan cities like Midland, Flint, Lansing, and others. The startup also is in talks with community groups in Oakland, Chicago, Baltimore, and several other cities nationally," Adele Peters reports for Fast Company.

The group aims to take on projects they determine can return a 6 percent profit annually. "Cooperative Capital, like a venture fund, will charge a small management fee, along with another fee if it reaches a certain performance threshold," Peters writes.