Ohio Gives Grants for Startup Businesses

Keywords for this post:
Business plans for venture capital
Business plans for minority entrepreneurs


Ohio’s very unique Third Frontier program has been around for a decade now, giving money to funds that invest in startup companies in Ohio.

There is good reason that this program has been around for so long – the venture capital companies are expected to invest money of their own, along with the Third Frontier Funds, bringing even more money into the state. While the Third Frontier made grants worth $40 million in the past two years, venture firms have contributed over $200 million in the same time.

It’s an amazing program. Everybody wins. The state wins with new, energizing businesses. Venture capital wins with more money to invest. And small business wins with more money in the pot.

And it gets even better. While most venture capital firms chase the more established companies, The Third Frontier has a special program called the Pre-Seed Fund that targets the new, small comapnies -- even one person companies!

The Third Frontier program said today that it is asking venture capital funds to apply for the grants from the Pre-Seed Fund Initiative, which they can use to invest in early stage companies. Most grants will be between $1 million and $2 million, said Merle Madrid, spokesman for the Ohio Development Department, which runs the program.

The Pre-Seed initiative targets companies that aren't much more than an inventor in a garage, Madrid said. The money is intended to help entrepreneurs test their products and determine if they're marketable.

What more could anyone ask for?
Well, I do have one request: that more states adopt the same type of program.