3 Arizona accelerators win grants to boost underrepresented entrepreneurs
Three business accelerators in Arizona have been awarded $50,000 each as part of a Small Business Administration grant program focused on increasing entrepreneurial diversity.
Seed Spot, the University of Arizona Center for Innovation and Startup Tucson were named among the 84 winning accelerators for the 2021 award year. Winners were announced on Thursday, Sept. 16.
The grant program, called the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition, was designed to increase entrepreneurship among underrepresented groups such as women, people of color and people in rural communities that historically have lacked access to resources.
The SBA also debuted the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Catalyst competition this year, though no Arizona organizations were named among the eight winners.
The GAFC program started in 2014 and all three of this year’s Arizona winners have won funding from this grant program in the past.
Seed Spot is a Phoenix-based nonprofit focused on helping minority business owners build companies that bring social impact. In Seed Spot’s grant application video, the accelerator's representatives said the funding would be used to expand partnerships with the Arizona Commerce Authority, Local First Arizona and the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation at GateWay Community College.
Startup Tucson plans to use the funding to support entrepreneurs in rural parts of southern Arizona, specifically those working in food startups and supply chain resilience, according to its grant application video.
The University of Arizona Center for Innovation will use the SBA grant funding to support female founders. UACI plans to pair female UA student interns with women founders to help the startup companies conduct market research and help with applications for Small Business Innovation Research grants, a program run by the National Science Foundation.
The Small Business Administration has awarded GFAC grants six times since the program’s start in 2014, but this year was the biggest with $4.2 million awarded to 84 accelerators.
Isabella Casillas Guzman, administrator of the SBA, said in a statement that the Biden administration aims to boost funding for the GFAC program even more in the years to come.
“President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda would enable us to ramp up this program even more, helping to reach thousands of innovators from underrepresented communities and geographic areas.”
The administration has specifically proposed providing $400 million in new funding for the GFAC program over 10 years and doubling the grant size to $100,000 each as part of a $25 billion funding bill for small businesses that is working its way through Congress.
