A $270,000 contribution from the charitable arm of Clayton-based NISA Investment Advisors has enabled Arch Grants to fund five additional startup companies.
The firms receiving grants from NISA's Charitable Fund were chosen because their missions align closely with its emphasis on education, workforce development, and access to capital for traditionally underserved populations. The winning startups are Equalizer Games, oneKIN, PlaBook, Rock The Score and ZenHammer.
COVER STORY: After 10 years, most Arch Grants recipients are still in business, with operations in St. Louis.
"Our philanthropic activities were extensively anonymous for years and years,” said David Eichhorn, NISA’s CEO and head of investment strategies. “We want to be a visible, positive story in St. Louis story because we owe a lot of our success to being in St. Louis."
Founded in 1994, NISA Investment Advisors manages $317 billion in assets, of which 93% are fixed income portfolios comprised mostly of U.S. Treasury and investment grade credit securities.
The nonprofit Arch Grants hosts startup competitions that award $50,000 in equity-free grants to startups both from St. Louis and beyond. The organization last month marked a decade of awarding grants, surpassing 200 companies funded and $10 million of capital awarded.
RELATED: Inside Arch Grants' fundraising strategy that's brought in millions
PlaBook plans to use its $50,000 grant to finish artificial intelligence development and to market the firm's product, said the company's CEO and founder, Philip William Van Hickman. The St. Louis-based company has developed a reading technology that uses natural language processing, speech recognitions and A.I. to teach children how to read, Hickman said.
"This was a huge opportunity for my company; not only to have the funding but to have access to Arch Grant resources, mentorship and all the other opportunities that allow your company to grow. It also does something non-tangible, which is it gives us validation. It shows other people that someone else believes in our company," he said.
NISA’s donor-advised charitable fund was established in April 2020 when it donated $1 million in relief funds to support those in the St. Louis area affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
RELATED: 10 years in, here's a look at the status of Arch Grants recipients
The charitable fund originally connected with Arch Grants to learn how they make their grants, said Eriko Clevenger Pope, the fund’s director.
“It became obvious that this could be a real exciting fit; that Arch Grants had a fantastic platform to accelerate growth in our St. Louis community through the spirit of the entrepreneur,” she said.
“This is a value-add to our typical competitive process,” said Gabe Angieri, Arch Grants’ director of development and strategy. “This is maximizing the number of companies we could do this year.”
Eichhorn said among the major goals of NISA’s Charitable Fund is to help entrepreneurs succeed in the St. Louis area and return that generosity in the future.
“I really believe this moment of time when they get this near-Providence gift that helps them get started, I have to believe that makes them a next generation of stewards of St. Louis philanthropic givers. I believe they’ll recognize ‘well, there’s a point in time when we need to pay that back to this community,’“ he said.
