In 2005, Rajiv Kumar founded a company to market a team-based, employee-wellness program, based on a model and software platform he pioneered with his successful nonprofit Shape Up Rhode Island...On Nov. 26, [Providence Health Solutions] received a major boost when it was among six businesses approved to receive the state’s new innovation tax credit, designed to help startup companies in high-wage industries secure private venture capital.

Kumar said the innovation tax will enable him to attract local angel investors who probably would not otherwise have invested in Providence Health Solutions.

“This tax credit changes the game entirely for our company,” said Kumar, a medical student at Brown University...["It] could not have come at a more fortuitous time.”

...The credits can be shared by up to 10 people, but cannot be sold. In addition to being given away to investors, the tax credit can also be distributed among employees or used as a signing bonus to attract a new executive.

David Durand, president of Tizra, said he might use the $100,000 tax credit to recruit an experienced chief executive in the next year to guide the company’s growth. Like many entrepreneurs in the information technology sector, Durand said he and Tizra’s three other founders lack the experience of running a multimillion-dollar business. Before putting their money on the line, many angel investors want to see experience in a company’s leadership team.