Hudson Valley Venture Hub accelerates 20 high-growth startups, generating $4.5 million in returns, in Year 1 as Innovation Hot Spot for the Mid-Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley Venture Hub at SUNY New Paltz provided incubation services to 20 regional companies and startups in the Venture Hub’s first year as Innovation Hot Spot for the Mid-Hudson Valley.
The 20 companies that received Venture Hub support – in industries ranging from software, to food and beverage, to the sharing economy – reported a cumulative 26 new full-time equivalent jobs created, and generated $4.5 million in private investment secured and revenue increased.
This growth, made possible by $1,250,000 (over five years) in Innovation Hot Spot funding from Empire State Development, represents an 18x return on the state’s Year-1 investment in the Hudson Valley Venture Hub.
“2023 was a game-changer for the Hudson Valley Venture Hub,” said Eliza Edge, director of the Venture Hub. “With the support from Empire State Development Division of Science, Technology and Innovation and other sponsors, the Venture Hub was able to roll out a highly individualized accelerator program, bringing resources to the strongest regional entrepreneurs. And as the Innovation Hot Spot, we’ve coordinated with our service provider partners to help them add value to the Hudson Valley economy through investment, growth and job creation.”
The Venture Hub serves as both a connective network, helping match businesses to existing organizations and services to support their goals, while also providing direct, individualized incubation services to select startups, to help them fulfill their potential to reach larger scale commercialization of their products and services.
“We would not be anywhere near where we are today without the amazing support we’ve received through the HV Venture Hub,” said Damien Semel-DeFeo, the founder of Cool Down, a provider of efficient home cooling systems. “Their organizing, vast startup knowledge, and dedicated attention to detail have helped propel Cool Down at a pace we never could have achieved without them.”
The Venture Hub’s designation as an Innovation Hot Spot, announced in 2022, has enabled a significant expansion of these efforts, both in scale and geographic reach. The results in Year 1 speak for themselves: millions of dollars in generated economic activity, including significant job creation, catalyzed by a small investment in state funds.
These efforts have been in addition to the continuation of services that the Hudson Valley Venture Hub has offered for years: hosting events for entrepreneurs and investors, creating opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration among businesses, organizing angel investment pitch events and educational programs, even establishing a Slack group for regional startup founders to share ideas and discuss their challenges.
More information about the Hudson Valley Venture Hub at SUNY New Paltz is available here.
Empire State Development, New York’s chief economic development agency, awards Innovation Hot Spot grants through its Regional Economic Development Council initiative, which consists of public-private partnerships who collaboratively evaluate community-based proposals for investing in jobs and economic growth in New York State.