Starting next month, another round of food-focused startups in New Mexico will be able to participate in a program designed to help them build their companies.
The program, called Santa Fe Food LABS, is one of several offered by Creative Startups, a Santa Fe-based accelerator organization. The Food LABS' first round took place last year. The second round begins March 15. It will include a pitch competition in April.
Applications are open until Feb. 28, and the fee is $175 per person. The LABS program is primarily funded by a four-year, $50,000 grant from the city of Santa Fe, reported the Santa Fe New Mexican. The program is designed for startups in their early and growth stages, startups that are breaking into new markets or raising financing and businesses that are adapting to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 11 startups that participated in the previous cohort created 25 full and part-time jobs, according to Creative Startups.
Creative Startups offers 10-week accelerator programs, as well as six-week "pre-accelerator" programs, which is what the Food LABS is. The organization has worked with more than 350 companies that have raised $293 million, according to its website. One of the companies it worked with was Meow Wolf, which joined a Creative Startups program in Albuquerque in 2014 and won $25,000, Business First reported.
