Center on Rural Innovation

This EDA investment supports the Green Mountain Accelerator Fund, an “evergreen” $3 million pre-seed investment vehicle capitalized by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) that will fund startup accelerator graduates across rural Vermont. Green Mountain Launchpad, a regional tech startup catalyst, seeks to unlock the full potential of the Green Mountain Accelerator Fund and fill an early-stage investment gap in the rural startup ecosystems across five rural Vermont communities: Rutland, Windham County, Springfield, Randolph, and Caledonia County.

With the goal of generating successful tech startup activity across the region, Green Mountain Launchpad will result in pre-seed and seed investment opportunities, mentorship programming, and dedicated entrepreneurship support to augment existing programming. The Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) will leverage the award to ensure rural founders, particularly female founders, effectively engage the Green Mountain Accelerator Fund by connecting startups to pro-bono legal and financial accounting assistance, potential investments from local angel investors, and pitch development assistance to advance the innovation ecosystem. By the conclusion of this project, the goal is for at least 30 local tech founders to have secured investments of $50,000 each, in addition to pro-bono legal and financial accounting services; 25 angel investors will be matched with investment opportunities and educated on rural investment strategies; and 30 startup founders will benefit from mentorship programming.