Out of 420 applicants, St. Louis Arch Grants has chosen its first 15 startups to receive a total of $750,000 in grants. The year long program will provide each of the startups with $50,000 in funding as well as free business mentoring, accounting and marketing services, and access to angel investors in the city. We’re proud to announce that Tech.li is among those to receive funding from St. Louis this year.
The selected startups were announced Monday by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Jim McKelvey, co-founder of mobile payment platform Square.
“Small businesses are the biggest driver of job-creation and economic growth in our state,” Gov. Jay Nixon said in the press release. “We are extremely proud to have this diverse and innovative group of companies growing, investing and creating jobs right here in Missouri. These pioneering small-business owners will lead our economy and our state into the future.”
Arch Grants provides non-dilutive capital, where the organization receives no amount of equity in return for the funding they give startups. This year marks the first year Arch Grants has held a business plan competition, and the organization has said it plans to continue the competition annually based on 2012’s success.
“It’s exciting to see the groundswell of support for startup space in St. Louis,” said Edward Domain, Founder and CEO of Tech.li. “As a New Media startup talking to investors and entrepreneurs in different cities around the Midwest, it’s great to see a program like Arch Grants – I haven’t seen anything like it yet. Entrepreneurs should definitely consider St. Louis as a base for their business.”
Companies who accept the funds and relocate to St. Louis will be eligible for up to $100,000 in follow-up funding. Check out the list from the press release below to find out more details about all the great startups that will participate in this year’s program.
Companion Pharma, Inc. — Harry Arader (CEO) Companion Pharma, Inc.’s mission is to expand the range of safe, effective medicines designed for convenient use in dogs and cats under a veterinarian’s prescription.
Food Essentials: Anton Xavier (CEO and Co-Founder), Dheeraj Patri (COO and Co-Founder), & Dagan Xavier (CDO and Co-Founder) FoodEssentials’ LabelINSIGHT provides retailers, manufacturers, and government with sophisticated online tools for the deep analysis of food label data.
Graematter, INC: Merle Symes (CEO) & Melissa Walker (President and CTO) Graematter has developed the TERI Regulatory Intelligence System, which for the first time consolidates the data and information located in over a hundred regulatory data sources into a single, searchable database.
IDC Projects: Michael Orlando (CEO) IDC Projects makes location-based social games for mobile phones that serve as an ideal targeted marketing platform for advertisers.
Iveria TV: Sergi Turabelidze & Giorgi Gioshvili (Co-Founders) Iveria TV is the “hulu of foreign TV,” possessing the technological infrastructure and business model to deliver foreign language TV streams to millions of immigrants living in the United States.
Labor Voices: Kohl Gill (CEO and Founder) & Mark Womer (CFO) LaborVoices is crowdsourced supply chain intelligence, providing corporations with a real-time monitoring and risk-management tool, with data coming directly from workers in their supply chains.
Material Mix: Allison Carmen (CEO) Material Mix monetizes the trade of recyclables, helping waste and recycling professionals reduce operating expenses and recover investment on inventory via a dynamic, web-based, customer regulated exchange platform with supply chain management tools.
Med Preps: Kenny Kline (CEO and Co-Founder) & Jon Chen (COO and Co-founder) Med Preps provides online practice tests and flashcards to help medical professionals prepare for certification exams.
Observable Networks: Patrick Crowley (CEO & Founder) & Peter Finley (COO) Observable Networks is pioneering a new approach to enterprise network security and management. Observable Networks is the recipient of the Emerson Arch Grant.
Obsor: Marshall Haas (CEO), Joao Gradim (Co-founder), & Carlos Oliva (Co-Founder) Obsorb is a customizable work platform for small businesses that works on the web, iPhone, iPad, and Android.
Pharos Scientific: Zhilin Hu (CEO) Pharos Scientific aims to deliver an innovative medical imaging component in the forefront of diagnostic medicine and related products.
Saturnis, LLC: Michael Gidding (President) & Daniel Garcia (Director of Science) Saturnis is commercializing a low-cost, thermochemical process that produces liquid transportation fuels from biomass sources that can be sustainably harvested in the Midwest. Saturnis is the recipient of the Peabody Arch Grant.
simMachines: Arnoldo Muller-Molina (CEO) simMachines provides the fastest similarity search engine available, focused on creating efficient, novel and easy to use data analysis tools.
Techli: Edward Domain (CEO and Founder) and Lindsay Oneal ( CMO and cofounder) Techli is the online news magazine for the digital startup community in the Midwest.
Unique Metal Solutions: Ron Meyer (CEO), Julie Meyer (Co-founder), & Charlie Overschmidt (Operations Manager and Co-Founder) Unique Metal Solutions designed and patented the advanced manufacturing ROCKET RACK(R), a stainless steel conduit and process pipe support system currently being used in food and beverage processing plants in St. Louis and potentially throughout the U.S.
If you aren’t familiar with the St. Louis startup scene, we suggest reading 10 Reasons To Launch A Startup in St. Louis.
