At StartupScaleup, JumpStart Unveils Investments From Diversity-Focused Fund
JumpStart just announced five new investments that align with its revised mission statement. The Cleveland nonprofit recently invested $350,000 in five startups via a new fund that focuses on female and minority entrepreneurs, CEO Ray Leach announced at JumpStart’s StartupScaleup conference. He noted that a Rootstown company called BioMendics — which has developed a gel
Believeland: How Collaboration and Inclusion Drive Innovation In Ohio
“Welcome to Believeland!,” was the enthusiastic greeting from Ray Leach, CEO of JumpStart, Inc., to an audience of entrepreneurs, venture capital investors, nonprofits, foundations, government entities, universities, and corporations, who were among the hundreds gathered for JumpStart, Inc.’s Second Annual Startup ScaleUp event in Cleveland. Believeland is a fitting moniker for a city that is
Make It A Double, Tom Lix: Startup Scaleup
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Whiskey-making is an old, time-bound process, or so folks in Kentucky and Tennessee will tell you. But Tom Lix, from Northeast Ohio, is changing that. Lix is, in fact, helping to disrupt the distilled-spirits business through his startup company, Cleveland Whiskey. A whiskey-maturation process that takes traditional distillers six and a half years
Meet The Engaging Allison Peltz: Startup Scaleup
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Allison Peltz can Snapchat. She can tweet and Instagram. She can even write. One. Word. Sentences — and if that’s what gets a target audience’s interest, it might be worth more than “The Elements of Style.” Peltz, in other words, is a social media influencer, using her skills to promote Cleveland on a personal
Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor, JumpStart Launch $2 Million Investment Fund
The Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor said it has teamed up with JumpStart Inc. to launch a $2 million investment and attraction fund to provide financial capital for businesses willing to move to the corridor district that links downtown and University Circle. The HTC Fund has investments from the city of Cleveland, the Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Third
Michael Jeans Connects Neighborhood Businesses With Loans: Startup Scaleup
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Let’s say you’ve got a small business in a diverse, low- or moderate-income neighborhood and you need a loan to build or expand. Maybe you should get to know Michael Jeans during JumpStart Inc.’s “Startup Scaleup” gathering Tuesday, June 28. Jeans’ Growth Opportunity Partners is “not a lender of last resort,” the group says.
Expanded Startup Scaleup Returns To Gordon Square On June 28
Last year, JumpStart Inc. showcased Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem with a half-day, festival-style event held in Cleveland’s Gordon Square Arts District. Startup Scaleup returns this summer with a full day of sessions, pitch competitions, workshops and networking events. The expanded format follows a 2015 venture that drew 1,200 guests interested in harnessing the region’s array
Meet Brandyn Armstrong, With His Portable Music Studio: Startup Scaleup
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Brandyn Armstrong, rapper, singer — and recording-device entrepreneur? It could happen, judging from his portable recording studio product, trio of advisers and drive. Armstrong is among the budding tech businessmen and women who will speak at JumpStart’s Startup Scaleup event on June 28. A longtime singer and rapper, Armstrong’s tough childhood in East
Meet Bob Sopko, Startup Guru Extraordinaire: Startup Scaleup
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Case Western Reserve University students, or anyone who drops by the school with a dream of making a product into a business, gets the benefit of Bob Sopko’s counsel. So do entrepreneurs launching their ventures through the Youngstown Business Incubator. Now you can see why he’s sought out, because Sopko will be among
JumpStart’s Second Annual Startup Scaleup Coming Next Week
CLEVELAND, Ohio – For the second year, JumpStart Inc. and some of its closest partners are taking over Gordon Square for Startup Scaleup, an all-day festival-style event celebrating Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurs and resources to help small business owners. The June 28 event is a follow-up to last year’s inaugural event that drew about 1,200 people to
Got A Great Tech Idea, Clevelanders? Become A Startup Entrepreneur
We’re in the Rust Belt, right, where industry dies? A hive of business leaders, financiers and go-getters are determined to prove that idea as wrong as the notion that Cleveland can’t win a major sports championship. If you have a business idea, now’s your chance to pitch it — or at least learn how to try. Cleveland nonprofit
Meet Some Of Cleveland’s Innovators
Every city has its champions, its innovative leaders – those who, no matter their work, embody the spirit of their city and help drive progress and inclusivity forward. And Cleveland is full of them. From June 14-17, Forward Cities leaders will meet in Cleveland to explore how to drive inclusive innovation. Out of town participants