Source: Buffalo Business First (July 18, 2016)
The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation has awarded a two-year, $2.5 million grant to Launch NY, a nonprofit organization which seeks to boost startup companies in Western and Central New York.
Launch NY leaders said the grant validates the organization’s multi-pronged strategy and sets it up for a bright future of mentoring and investing in startup companies.
“We have both the backing and the visionary partners at the table to create incredible impact over the next two years but also to build a long-term plan,” said Marnie LaVigne, Launch NY president and CEO. “This will allow us to connect the pieces of an ecosystem that has been growing in recent years but needs to be knit together in a very effective way.”
The Wilson foundation has set a goal of distributing its $1.2 billion in assets over the next 20 years in both Buffalo and Detroit. It is funded primarily through the sale of the Buffalo Bills and awarded $60 million in grants during 2015, its first year.
Launch NY was founded and has several programs designed to identify early-stage companies, prepare them for investment funding and then connect them to investment networks, all of which will be supported by the Wilson grant. They include:
- An entrepreneurship-in-residence program where experienced mentors work with specific companies, helping them build business plans and clean up financials. Acceptance into the EIR program – which has already worked with more than 500 companies since 2012 – starts with an initial half-hour conversation but can last four years.
- That mentorship program is a feeder system for Launch NY’s seed fund, which makes investments ranging from $25,000 to $75,000 in the “founder-friendly” form of convertible notes, which turn into equity based on the terms of the first fundraising round. The seed funding is designed as a way to help a company prove its concept and prepare for a more significant funding round.
Read the full article at the Buffalo Business First.