NEW: $13.1M in Federal Funding for Small Business Growth
Monday, October 03, 2011
Governor Lincoln D. Chafee joined U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representative David Cicilline, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien and Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) Executive Director Keith Stokes today to announce that Rhode Island has been awarded $13.1 million in federal funds to help finance small businesses through the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The program was established by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 and will provide much needed new capital to Rhode Island small businesses and entrepreneurs to help them grow and create quality jobs in the state.
Rhode Island’s SSBCI funds will be invested in early-stage, technology- and innovation-driven companies that will create high-skilled, high-wage jobs and expand Rhode Island’s knowledge economy, small businesses in core urban communities to help revitalize traditionally underserved areas of the state. This new source of small business financing is also expected to spur additional private capital investment and complement other state capital and economic development programs aimed at further expanding key growth industries in the Ocean State.
“The success of small businesses – particularly in urban areas – is key to Rhode Island’s economic revitalization,” Governor Chafee said. “I am proud of the collaboration between the state and our federal partners that has led to this significant investment in Rhode Island’s small businesses and entrepreneurs.”
“Small businesses need capital to succeed. Today, that’s often hard for them to find. This $13.1 million in federal funding is going to support these small companies and entrepreneurs with up to $131 million in new private investment to help them preserve and create jobs for Rhode Islanders,” said Reed.
The $13.1 million will be directed to provide investment capital to small businesses in Rhode Island through the following programs:
•$9 million to the Slater Technology Fund for seed stage investments. Slater provides seed funding for local technology-based ventures in the IT and life sciences industries.
•$2 million to Betaspring for new small business formation. Betaspring is a mentorship-driven, Providence-based startup accelerator program for technology and design entrepreneurs.
•$2.1 million to the RIEDC’s Small Business Loan Fund for additional capital, including funds for urban small business investment to help revitalize the state’s core urban communities and traditional commercial centers.
