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TechGROWTH Ģ����Ƶ, Ģ����Ƶ University’s Ģ����Ƶ Third Frontier entrepreneurial services provider, has been awarded $5.05 million by the state in a competitive funding process for venture development services. The grant will be matched by Ģ����Ƶ University and private organizations, allowing TechGROWTH to continue and expand services through 2022. 

“Innovation is in Ģ����Ƶ’s DNA, it’s who we are,” said Lydia L. Mihalik, director of development and chair of the Ģ����Ƶ Third Frontier Commission, in a release. “We are investing in the ideas and businesses making Ģ����Ƶ the most innovative, creative and entrepreneurial state in the Midwest.”

TechGROWTH Ģ����Ƶ, which is led and managed by Ģ����Ƶ University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, has developed an expansive network of executives and entrepreneurs-in-residence and strategic partners to identify and assist aspiring new companies and entrepreneurs throughout the region, along with new venture capital and technology commercialization partners like the Ģ����Ƶ Innovation Fund and I-Corps@Ģ����Ƶ. 

“TechGROWTH’s leadership team and partners have built a very competitive program in southeast Ģ����Ƶ. The program has had major spinoffs and impacted the Voinovich School’s approach to regional investment and development,” Voinovich School Dean Mark Weinberg said.

At Ģ����Ƶ University, institutional collaborators include: Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Activity, College of Business, Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation Center, Technology Transfer Office and Edison Biotechnology Institute. Regional partners include Shawnee State University, Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center, Belmont County Community Improvement Corporation and others. 

“Ģ����Ƶ University takes its leadership role in boosting economic development in this region of Appalachian Ģ����Ƶ very seriously,” Ģ����Ƶ University President M. Duane Nellis said. “In making its ongoing investment commitment, the Ģ����Ƶ Third Frontier Commission clearly agrees that funding TechGROWTH Ģ����Ƶ is essential to ensuring job creation and entrepreneurial support for this underserved region.”

Founded in 2007 by Ģ����Ƶ University and the Ģ����Ƶ Third Frontier program, TechGROWTH provides intensive professional services and seed-stage investment capital to technology companies and entrepreneurs in Southeast Ģ����Ƶ. It has assisted more than 2,210 entrepreneurs and has invested more than $7 million in 15 startup companies and provided 90 companies nearly $5 in GROWTH funding awards.  With the additional funding, TechGROWTH Ģ����Ƶ will be a $62 million public-private partnership.

“This new award from the Ģ����Ƶ Third Frontier validates the quality of our significant and ongoing efforts to increase technology startup activity and expand economic impact in the coming years,” said Lynn Gellermann, executive director of TechGROWTH and Ģ����Ƶ University’s Center for Entrepreneurship.

These services and investments have helped companies in Southeast Ģ����Ƶ generate more than $560 million in additional economic activity, including co-investments, loans, grants, increased sales and new jobs. Every $1 of state money invested generates almost $24 in economic activity.

Entrepreneurs in southeastern Ģ����Ƶ can visit for more information about available investment and venture development resources.