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Orlando approves $100,000 for seed fund - Orlando Sentinel

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 15:09 -- rprice

A new Orlando seed fund will pursue a federal grant after the city council helped push it past the required $250,000 in matching funds Monday. City officials unanimously approved $100,000 for StarterCorps, a non-profit organization which will be housed at the downtown Orlando coworking space Canvs. StarterCorps executive director Kirstie Chadwick, a veteran of Orlando's technology startup community, said the council's support could go a long way toward helping StarterCorps receive the grant. "It's huge," she said. "Because of the fact that it was the city and it was a significant cash contribution to that match, what that shows the EDA is we are serious. We are dead serious." Chadwick is former director of University of Central Florida's Venture Lab and was recently hired to lead the next class of startups in Starter Studio, an accelerator program moving to Canvs in January. The city council money combined with contributions from various entities, including Rollins College and University of Central Florida, to help StarterCorps reach $250,000. cComments will the black business incubator be first in line to not repay another loan ? rhutro at 7:23 AM November 04, 2014 Add a comment See all comments 1 UCF technically applied for the grant. "Everyone recognizes (seed money) is a missing piece" of Orlando's technology community, said Necole Pynn, managing director of Canvs. Pynn said officials expect the Economic Development Administration to award the grant in February or March. However, whether or not they receive the grant, she said the plan remains to find a way to establish a funding mechanism in Orlando. Pynn said the city council's support justifies Canvs's mission to push technology entrepreneurship in Orlando. "We think this is the future of our city and they agree with us," she said.