Sixteen entrepreneurs are the latest beneficiaries of Main Street Ventures' newest round of grant funding.
The Over-the-Rhine nonprofit announced June 27 the recipients of its Launch and Leap grants, as well as Cincinnati State’s Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program. In total, the organization handed out more than $248,000 in equity-free funding.
Launch funding is designed for emerging, pre-revenue businesses at the prototype or product stage and aims to help increase the odds of reaching the market-entry point and beyond. While Main Street Ventures doesn’t disclose exact grant amounts, funding ranges from $5,000 to $10,000.
Leap funding, meanwhile, is dedicated to revenue-generating businesses to scale impact and increase their odds of survival. The grants are between $10,000 and $30,000.
The companies receiving Launch grants include:
- 4 Mile Wine Co. is a mead and wine company focusing on honey varietals and fruit.
- Anisoptera Inc. develops computer vision and artificial intelligence that revolutionizes the recycling and circular economy.
- Danyelle's Bellevue Tavern is a minority-owned neighborhood sports bar that is expanding to open a food trailer in the backyard, as well as its existing space's second floor.
- Farmer Nate’s Sauce Co. creates unique and flavorful hot sauces, condiments, spices and snacks with emphasis on homegrown sustainability.
- Gee Horton Studios is a multidisciplinary art practice that uses hyper-realistic drawings, photography and fine art printmaking to explore themes of identity, cultural influence and social work.
- Natural Shea Care is a Black-owned business that produces natural, socially and ethically conscious beauty care products.
- Shift Brands makes premium shoes for nurses, an underserved target market with exacting needs, high purchasing power and willingness to pay for performance.
- Luminary by La Terza is a local coffee shop that believes a brighter community starts with great coffee.
“Being awarded the Main Street Ventures grant affirms the hard work already put into Shift and further fuels the growing momentum in our mission to solve the long-term health effects caused by poor footwear among our nurses,” Jenny Morrissey, founder and owner of grant recipient Shift Brands, said in a news release. “I am thrilled about the opportunities this grant provides to collaborate and partner with the Cincinnati community.”
Companies receiving Leap grants include:
- Band Connect enables physical therapists to reduce the frequency of in-clinic visits and improves quality of care by providing connected exercise equipment to gamify the patient experience at home.
- Cincinnati Soy Bands Inc., which operates both CinSoy Foods and Cincinnati Cannery within the food consumer packaged goods and manufacturing space. CinSoy Foods manufactures soy sauce, tofu, miso and other condiments, while Cincinnati Cannery is a co-manufacturing company supporting local and national brands as they expand their reach.
- Saturday Morning Vibes is the first cereal bar in the region geared toward nostalgia born of the '90s.
- REV3D is bringing off-road parts and accessories manufactured utilizing additive manufacturing technology to end customers across the United States and abroad.
- The BodyBakery & Co. is a high-protein, gluten-free, functional dessert bakery that creates single-serve delicious treats for health-conscious customers.
The winners of the Cincinnati State Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Pitch Competition Grant Recipients were:
- Rich Life Farm and Fungi is a self-taught family-owned farm that grows gourmet mushrooms year-round using organic practices in the Greater Cincinnati area.
- The Confetti Room makes planning a rehearsal dinner, bridal shower and baby shower as fun and fancy as planning a wedding.
- Magnificent Morsels Catering is launching a Home Kitchen Collection where customers get to take the MMC experience home, with its three-in-one spice blends designed to up the home chef experience. The company also recently won Paycor's "Earn Your Stripes" competition for a year-long Cincinnati Bengals sponsorship.
