Arch Grants, the St. Louis nonprofit that provides equity-free grants to startups, is giving a second round of funding to two of its portfolio companies.
The startup funder said Thursday it’s providing nondilutive $100,000 grants to a pair of St. Louis-based portfolio companies through its Growth Grants program, which gives follow-on funding to help previous Arch Grants winners expand locally. The two startups receiving new Growth Grants are Amplify and Bold Xchange.
The Growth Grants program is an extension of Arch Grants’ annual startup competition, which gives $75,000 grants to early-stage companies. To be eligible for Growth Grants funding, previous Arch Grants winners must still be operating in St. Louis and pledge to remain here for at least two years if awarded the follow-on capital. Growth Grants winners are chosen by a volunteer panel.
“I'm thrilled Amptify and Bold Xchange have been selected to receive Growth Grants in our fifth cycle of this program,” said Gabe Angieri, executive director at Arch Grants. “This critical funding will help propel both companies toward their next stage of growth, serving as a powerful catalyst for continued expansion and job creation within the St. Louis community.”
E-commerce startup Bold Xchange operates an online marketplace that sells items from Black-owned businesses. It has found success with a business-to-business model, with brands that include Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC), Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and CarMax (NYSE: KMX) using its platform to buy gifts for employees and events. In September, St. Louis nonprofit WEPOWER made an investment in Bold Xchange from a $1.5 million fund it launched to provide capital to local Black and Latino entrepreneurs. Initially based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bold Xchange moved to St. Louis in 2020 after winning funding from Arch Grants.
"We don't take receiving this additional funding lightly. The Arch Grants community is doubling down on us, and in return, we're doubling down on St. Louis,” said Danielle Deavens, co-founder and chief operating officer of Bold Xchange. “We've been fortunate; many businesses aren't able to receive startup capital to generate real momentum in the early days. We now have the financial support to aggressively scale revenue and deepen our impact.”
Founded in 2015 and spun out of Washington University School of Medicine’s Audiovisual Speech Perception Laboratory, Amptify has created a hearing health platform designed for those with hearing loss. It said earlier this week it has launched a virtual clinic and inked partnerships with multiple over-the-counter hearing aid manufacturers
“The influx of additional funding bolsters our operational base in St. Louis, facilitating the expansion of our growth team to scale our innovative services,” said Chris Cardinal, CEO of Amptify. “Our strategy includes hiring locally to augment our local impact and furthering our efforts to democratize access to top-tier hearing care.”
Arch Grants launched its Growth Grants program in 2021 and has used it to provide $1.3 million to 14 of its previous investments. While the follow-on grants are nondilutive, Arch Grants requires startups to match the funding at least 2-to-1 through outside funding sources. Arch Grants said this iteration of the program had 15 applications, which was trimmed to seven finalists.
Companies awarded Growth Grants have raised $30 million-plus in outside funding and created 434 local jobs, according to data provided by Arch Grants. Since its first startup competition in 2012, Arch Grants has provided more than $14 million to 230 companies. The nonprofit says its portfolio companies have created more than 3,400 jobs locally, produced $699 million in revenue and raised more than $650 million in follow-on investment.
