The city of Sacramento’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development and consulting firm Momentum are offering a paid program to help entrepreneurs prepare to get future funding for clean-tech startups.
The four-month Ascend program pays participants $3,500 to attend mandatory online or in-person sessions for entrepreneurs in the clean economy, clean mobility or clean energy industries.
“It is to get people to the level where they can get funded,” said Gary Simon, chairman of the nonprofit CleanStart, which is a sponsor of the program.
Applications for Ascend are open through June 7. It is for people who are in the clean-tech industry or people who are floating a clean-tech concept.
The Ascend program gives entrepreneurs technical assistance to access investor and public funding for startups. Momentum is a Sacramento-based consulting firm. It got a grant of $187,500 to run the training program to increase diversity in the clean-tech ecosystem, according to city documents.
The program is hoping to get dozens of applicants, and then pick a handful of the best ideas and candidates, Simon said.
The training program is meant to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs in the clean mobility and energy decarbonization sectors through funding education. The training is also meant to help entrepreneurs take their startup from initial idea to viable company. Participants must live or have a business address in Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado, Placer, Yuba or Sutter counties.
