Founders of Convergen Life Sciences Inc., including a political contributor to Gov. Rick Perry, had invested only $1,000 of their own money when they asked for and received $4.5 million from a Texas technology fund.
The Austin American-Statesman, under the Texas Public Information Act, obtained documents Wednesday on the company's application.
Perry's management of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund was an issue in his 2010 re-election campaign. The Dallas Morning News last fall reported on the fund's grant to Convergen, despite its rejection by a regional review board. Perry's office has defended the grant.
Convergen, founded in April 2009, requested the money three months later to help develop a new lung cancer-fighting drug using nanotechnology.
Messages left Thursday for two Convergen founders were not immediately returned to The Associated Press.
