CINCINNATI— Main Street Ventures is pleased to announce our first quarter grant recipients. It is an exciting time for the Startup Cincy community and Main Street Ventures as we continue to see more exciting businesses begin their journey in our Region.
All of the grants this quarter were awarded to female founded businesses. These grants were made possible because of Cincinnati City Council’s provision of $1 Million to Main Street Ventures from the American Rescue Plan Act, a bill passed in 2021 to assist the economic health and recovery of the United States brought on by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The funds received by Main Street Ventures are specifically focused on increasing our grant support programming for Women-Owned small businesses.
Main Street Ventures provides two different types of funding; Launch and Leap Grants. Launch funding provides emerging, pre-revenue businesses at the Prototype or Product stage (showing clear evidence of direct customer engagement validating the business model and product) with $5,000 - $10,000 of equity free funding to increase the odds of reaching the Market Entry stage and beyond. Leap funding provides promising, revenue generating businesses with $10,000 - $30,000 of equity free funding to scale their community impact and increase the odds of survival.
The company receiving a Launch Grant is:
● Raven’s Creations: Raven’s Creations is a personal chef and catering service created to
engineer upscale, memorable events for those celebrating life’s most precious moments or those with hectic lifestyles wanting to take a break from the kitchen.
The companies receiving Leap Grants are:
● Mad Cheese: Mad Cheese creates and produces small-batch, artisan, vegan cheese and
charcuterie.
● Tickety Boo Treats: Tickety-Boo Treats is on a mission to bring healthy and delicious treats to all tables - specializing in cheesecakes and crusts.
● uGOgelato: uGoGelato is an artisanal Gelato shop featuring in-house production.
● Yee Mama: Yee Mama brings the flavors of Asian home cooking and the Cantonese cooking philosophy to Cincinnati through handmade wontons and other products
In total, Main Street Ventures awarded $121,000 in equity-free grant funding this quarter. These
recipients will go on to use this funding to execute their respective plans to take their businesses to the
next level. The funding from Main Street Ventures continues to go directly into the local economy through
the StartupCincy community.
About Main Street Ventures
Main Street Ventures is working to become the community-funded initiative that makes entrepreneurship possible for everyone in Greater Cincinnati, by supporting entrepreneurs with what they need, when they need it: Capital, Connections, and Education. We look to support all good ideas and founders, but with a particular focus on women and minority entrepreneurs who have been historically under-represented in the startup community.
For more information, visit mainstventures.org.
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