The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced Wednesday it choose the Austin Technology Incubator and seven other organizations to receive grants ranging from $330,000 to $500,000 over two years.
It’s part of the Kauffman Foundation’s “initiative to identify and invest in organizations that have distinguished themselves in helping entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses,” according to a news release.
“Our goal is to help the most effective programs grow so they can serve more entrepreneurs,” Wendy Guillies, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, said in a news release. “We also want to develop a better understanding of what makes such programs effective so that other organizations can replicate their strategies and contribute to greater entrepreneurial success.”
The Austin Technology Incubator at the University of Texas at Austin received the grant after the Kauffman Foundation reviewed more than 300 proposals from 47 states. ATI, founded 26 years ago, is Austin’s original and oldest high-tech incubator. Isaac Barchas is ATI’s director.
ATI was the only nonprofit organization in Texas to receive a grant.
ATI plans to use its grant to support the expansion of its Student Entrepreneurship Acceleration and Launch (SEAL) program. ATI plans to expand the program to ten additional universities to share and develop new best practices in academic entrepreneurship.
Other grant recipients included Idea Village in New Orleans, Interise in Boston, MassChallenge in Boston, Seed Spot in Phoenix, VentureWell in Hadley, Mass., Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship in Syracuse, New York and Village Capital in Washington, D.C.
Kauffman selected the grant winners after they demonstrated their ability to help entrepreneurs with developing business models, obtaining funding and building management teams.
Leave a Reply