BTV Ignite Announces Growth Acceleration Program
Helping technology startups grow, hire, and thrive in Burlington and Vermont
Burlington, VT (February 19, 2018) – BTV Ignite will help established “tech” startups find the investment, staff, and support they need to rapidly grow their business in Burlington and surrounding communities. This Growth Acceleration Program will provide expert level advising on business and financing strategy, advanced training on topics including sales and governance, and link companies with local resources to help them find the staffing, space, and resources they need to succeed. The program will be provided at no cost to companies accepted into the program nor will any equity share be required. In turn, companies will be asked to commit to building their business in Vermont.
Studies conducted by the Kauffman Foundation state that Vermont is a leading state nationally in terms of creating startup companies but lags nationally in terms of hosting high growth companies. Access to finance, access to talent, and other logistical factors are often cited as barriers to startup growth in Vermont.
The BTV Ignite Growth Acceleration Program will provide the support necessary to help companies overcome these barriers. The BTV Ignite Growth Acceleration Program will be based on a bespoke relationship with each accepted company, shaping support activities around that company’s specific needs. Companies will receive advising, training, and support over a 6-month period with a focus on establishing a deep and continuing relationship. As growth companies typically maintain their own premises, the program is “nonresidential” and not based on a common colocation facility.
The BTV Ignite Growth Acceleration Program will supplement the rich ecosystem of entrepreneurial support initiatives already available in Burlington, including those by the City of Burlington, LaunchVT, the Accel-VT accelerator, Vermont Works, the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), the University of Vermont, FreshTracks Capital, and others. Working together, BTV Ignite and community stakeholders can help entrepreneurs take their ideas from launch to growth, strengthening Burlington’s reputation as a center of innovation.
The Program is now being launched with a Call for Applicants (available at https://www.btvignite.com/growth-acceleration-program/). The Program will be open to startups with a digital or technology focus though companies may be engaged in a range of sectors (including health care, sustainability, agriculture, education, software, etc.). We will be looking for companies that have a minimum viable product (MVP) and core team, are preferably post-revenue, have secured seed funding, and are now looking to grow through further investment and additional staff.
Through the Mayor’s Prize for Entrepreneurship, the BTV Ignite Growth Acceleration Program funded in part with support provided by the Community & Economic Development Office and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
More information on program deployment is available at https://www.btvignite.com/growth-acceleration-program/.
About BTV Ignite
BTV Ignite is helping Burlington and Vermont thrive in a 21st century digital economy.
BTV Ignite is a nonprofit that exists to ignite the energy of greater Burlington's technology and innovation ecosystem by binding institutions, government, educators, businesses, nonprofits, and entrepreneurs together. It collaborates with a nationwide network of similar efforts united by the nonprofit US Ignite.
BTV Ignite is supported by the following local partners: Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, Burlington Electric Department, Champlain College, The University of Vermont, The University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington Telecom, Apprenticeship USA at Vermont HiTec, People’s United Bank, Vermont Works, and the City of Burlington. For more information visit https://www.btvignite.com/.