The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

This EDA investment will support the Connecticut Consortium for BIPOC Technologists (CCBT) in the Greater New Haven region. The project will marshal and coalesce the resources of organizations with a solid history of helping to generate capital and building capacity for marginalized populations starting or operating science and technology businesses. The project’s catchment area and entire state of Connecticut are a nexus for technology firms, many of which are scalable and have high-growth potential. This project will take a bifurcated approach to stimulating the growth of firms poised for expansion and supporting emerging entrepreneurs, i.e., those at the proof-of-concept, minimum viable product, pre-seed and seed stages. The first audience (high-growth firms) will receive assistance from some Consortium members through accelerators and equity capital. The second group (i.e., early-stage companies) will join incubators and explore government grants (IES, SBIR and STTR) providing business capital. Potential alliances with private corporations supporting technology companies will be covered. The Community Foundation’s-Mission Investments Company’s (TCF-MIC’s) New Haven Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (NHE3) will lead this Consortium. Key partners include Climate Haven, Realist Lab, Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CTSBDC), and Yale University.