Hudson Valley Venture Hub wins $50,000 award in Stage Two of U.S. Small Business Administration 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition
The Hudson Valley Venture Hub at SUNY New Paltz is one of 44 Stage Two winners of the 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC), a program of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that supports equitable access to entrepreneurship.
The Hudson Valley Venture Hub, housed at our School of Business, will receive an additional $50,000 cash prize for its work as a Growth Accelerator Partnership in supporting the launch, growth, and scale of STEM/R&D-focused small businesses in the climate and sustainability technology area. This follows the Venture Hub’s Stage One award earlier this year, totaling $100,000 in prizes in 2024 through the SBA’s growth accelerator competition.
The Venture Hub pursued this award with climate tech partners including Upstate Capital, the SUNY Research Foundation, and the Climate Tech Expertise Network.
“The Venture Hub aimed to collaborate with our partners in hopes of breaking down barriers on behalf of Hudson Valley rural entrepreneurs,” said Eliza Edge, Director of the Hudson Valley Venture Hub. “When our organizations’ independent missions are applied together, we create opportunities to support climate startup founders, bring private capital to the region, and connect disrupted climate entrepreneurs to achieve a ’rising tides lifts all boats’ culture in this crucial industry.”
This Growth Accelerator Partnership was designed to create new opportunities and resources to bridge the barriers that these and other organizations face in the Hudson Valley, a largely rural region that is underserved and undercapitalized.
The SBA award positions the Hudson Valley Venture Hub to continue playing a leading role helping businesses address challenges like:
Geographical distance making it difficult for founders to network and benefit from “random connections” to propel business;
There are opportunities to expand meetups and information sharing among founders in our region;
Founders feel like “making the drive” isn’t worth it;
Founders working other jobs in addition to growing their companies;
Lack of childcare options and attending events in evening hard.
Near-term plans for deploying this Stage Two funding include a Hudson Valley Venture Hub partnership with Upstate Capital to produce another Climate x Venture event in the Hudson Valley, building upon the successes of the initial 2024 event.
Future planning will also focus on helping founders connect with R-1 researchers to partner on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) proposals.
“As your regional Innovation Hot Spot, representing our very rurally isolated region, our team at the Hudson Valley Venture Hub is thrilled to be awarded SBA’s Stage Two Growth Accelerator award, and $100,000 total,” Edge said. “This money will be strategically brought back to our community of innovators to address some key barriers related to access to capital and R-1 scholarship in the region. I couldn’t be more proud to have worked with the three organizations that partnered in this proposal – including Upstate Capital, the SUNY Research Foundation, and the Climate Tech Expertise Network – which are among the best state-wide organizations out there. Together, we will provide a balance of specialization that should quickly grow more climate-based ventures in the Hudson Valley.”
About the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition
The 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition catalyzes strategic innovation ecosystem building across the country. Over the last decade, SBA has awarded 566 in prizes totaling over $33 million to winners throughout the U.S. and U.S. territories.
2024 GAFC Stage One focused on strengthening ecosystem networks, while Stage Two prizes provide enhanced support to Growth Accelerator Partnerships as they play a crucial role in helping startups and small businesses scale, contributing to the economic growth of our nation. These partnerships span public, private, nonprofit, and academic institutions, fostering collaboration across industries and geographies.
Learn more about the Stage One and Stage Two organizations in the 2024 GAFC Public Directory.