The U.S. Small Business Administration, widely considered near useless to high-tech startups, has made two efforts in as many weeks to woo this innovative group of entrepreneurs.
This week, the SBA announced that it granted 20 awards of $95,000 each, for a total of almost $2 million, to technology-driven small-business support programs, according to a statement from the agency. The grants were given out as part of the SBA's Federal State Technology (FAST) program, which is intended to stimulate economic development by spurring regional research and development programs that ultimately lead to new, competitive startups.
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The $95,000 grants are for the 12 months following Oct. 1. "The FAST program is an important catalyst for helping America's cutting-edge entrepreneurs continue to drive innovation and create good jobs," said Karen Mills, the outgoing SBA administrator, in a statement. Recipient universities and programs, nominated by their home state's respective governors, are listed below:
- Arizona: Arizona Commerce Authority
- Arkansas: Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas
- Connecticut: Connecticut Innovations, Inc.
- Delaware: University of Delaware
- Louisiana: Louisiana State University and A&M College
- Michigan: BBC Entrepreneurial Training & Consulting LLC
- Mississippi: Innovate Mississippi
- Missouri: The Curators of the University of Missouri
- Montana: Montana Department of Commerce
- New Mexico: Technology Ventures Corporation
- New York: The Research Foundation for the State University of New York
- North Dakota: University of North Dakota
- Ohio: Ohio Aerospace Institute
- Oregon: Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center
- Pennsylvania: Ben Franklin Technology Partners Corporation
- Puerto Rico: Inter American University of Puerto Rico SBTDC
- South Dakota: Governor's Office of Economic Development
- Tennessee: Tennessee Technology Development Corp. (doing business as Launch Tennessee)
- Vermont: Vermont State Colleges
- Wisconsin: Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin System
What's more, just last week the SBA hosted 16 business accelerators in Washington, D.C., to pitch their programs to high-net-worth organizations to raise money. Accelerators typically help startup entrepreneurs pitch investors, but in this situation, the accelerators themselves were pitching.
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The event, held at Washington, D.C.-based accelerator 1776, aimed to foster high-tech, fast-growth entrepreneurship, the SBA says. "Accelerator Demo Day is one of the many initiatives this administration has been working on to help support the startup community," says Patrick Reilly, the executive director of the Global Accelerator Network, in a statement. Potential funders at the pitch included the Rockefeller Foundation, IBM and the Blackstone Foundation. Pitching accelerators included the following:
- Arkansas: ARK Accelerator
- New York: Socratic Labs
- Oregon: NW Social Venture
- Rhode Island: Betaspring
- Louisiana: The Idea Village
- Georgia: Village Capital
- Georgia: Points of Light Civic Accelerator
- Florida: Venture Hive
- Texas: Capital Factory
- Pennsylvania: AlphaLab
- Massachusetts: Mass Challenge
- Oklahoma: VentureSpur
- Ohio: Brandery
- New York: New York Digital Health Accelerator
- Washington, D.C.: Springboard Enterprises
- Texas: Texas Wildcatters
What could the SBA do to help your high-tech, high-growth startup? Leave a note below and let us know.