Missouri Technology Corp. (MTC) has committed funding to three St. Louis-based startups in its most recent group of venture capital investments, as well as making grants to boost entrepreneurial infrastructure and regional entrepreneurial nodes across the state.
MTC said earlier this month that it will award $2.6 million in equity-based investment to seven startups, three of which are based in the St. Louis area. The funding for the quarterly cycle was approved during MTC's July board meeting, the organization said.
MTC also said it has provided over $1.8 million through its 2024 Physical Infrastructure Grant Program, with proposals from two St. Louis-area groups getting part of the funding, and $1.3 million in funding for the inaugural round of recipients in its Regional Node Grant Program, including funding to two local regional groups sharing in the grants.
MTC, led by Executive Director Jack Scatizzi, is a public-private partnership created by the Missouri General Assembly that promotes entrepreneurship and provides investment to startups and entrepreneur support organizations. Through its Idea Fund venture capital program, MTC has provided about $50 million in financing in equity investments to about 160 companies statewide, the organization said in May. The milestone follows a rapid expansion of its investment pace in the past two years, following an influx of $95 million in federal funds.
The St. Louis-area companies awarded funding from MTC through its latest cycle of investment are:
- Agragene Inc., a developer of technology that sterilizes flies for pest control;
- FinLocker Inc., developer of a financial app to help homebuyers;
- HabiTerre Inc., developer of technology to provide environmental and productivity data for the agriculture industry;
Other startups receiving investment from MTC include: Advoteck LLC (Kansas City), a cybersecurity software company; Attane Health (Kansas City), a digital health company focused on providing underserved patients and Medicaid members; InventXYZ Corp. (Kansas City), designs curriculum to teach computer science and artificial intelligence to students in grades six-12; and PumpTrakr (Oran, Missouri), developer of modular application and IoT (internet of things) devices for farms to automate irrigation operations/communications.
Separately, MTC said the over $1.8 million its providing through its 2024 Physical Infrastructure Grant Program includes awards for proposals by the 39 North Agtech Innovation District in Creve Coeur and the BioSTL nonprofit bioscience innovation hub based in the Cortex innovation community. 39 North's grant will go toward starting and operating the Collaboration Hub at EDGE@BRDG, a coworking, shared meeting/board room and event space. BioSTL's funding will go toward continued operations of BioGenerator Labs and to defray some salary expense for full-time oversight of the labs and their operations staff.
MTC's $1.3 million in funding in its Regional Node Grant Program includes in its inaugural round of recipients the St. Charles-based OPO Startups Foundation and TechSTL, the St. Louis region's membership-based technology council. The OPO Startups Foundation's funding will go toward establishing the Confluence Tech Hub, a regional node to foster technology entrepreneurship in St. Charles, Warren and Lincoln counties, in partnership with coworking space OPO Startups, Economic Development Council of St. Charles County, Lindenwood University, St. Charles Community College and St. Charles County government. In using its grant, TechSTL will be joined by Capacity, EcoMap Technologies, Tenacity, News Lab Inc. and Hapacity in establishing a St. Louis regional entrepreneurial node, via StartupSTL, to connect small businesses and the high-growth startup community to resources, capital and each other.
