Entrepreneurship-development nonprofit Arch Grants announced its first class of the new Arch Grants Fellows program, naming 19 startup founders and executives to the peer advisory and business growth collective.
“Arch Grants has served as St. Louis’ primary startup pipeline since 2012,” said nonprofit Executive Director Gabe Angieri. “The Fellows program is an evolution of that pipeline, through which our most promising high-growth founders will connect with each other, with local corporate and civic leaders and to opportunities to advance regional growth initiatives.”
Arch Grants decided the fellowship membership by participants’ companies’ revenue and follow-on capital thresholds. Their companies have generated more than $279 million in revenue and more than $286 million in additional investments.
Arch Grants annually awards $75,000 equity-free grants to startups; those recipients and other organizations will join the fellowship program on an invitational basis. Fellows can participate in programming as long as they want to.
Drew Carter and Chris Dornfeld, who co-founded Whistle Systems, an employee-recognition and incentive programs software developer, were the first figures to join Arch Grants Fellows and volunteered to lead the program.
Additional inaugural fellows include:
- Adalo co-founder David Adkin
- Clever Real Estate co-founder and CEO Luke Babich
- Geneoscopy co-founder Andrew Barnell
- Native Pet co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Pat Barron
- Inclusively co-founder and COO Sarah Bernard
- Balto co-founder and CEO Marc Bernstein
- Lean Media CEO Beth Handrigan
- iSite Media co-founder and CEO Brian Lord
- Customily co-founders Alejandro Lozdziejski and Martina Möring
- Well Principled co-founder Ryan Richt
- Pivto Digital Learning founder and CEO Kelley Robson
- The Normal Brand co-founder Jimmy Sansone
- Native Pet co-founder and CEO Dan Schaefer
- Swipesum co-founder and COO Stephen Seaman
- Bask & Bloom Essentials founder Candera Thompson
- Juristat CEO Drew Winship.
“I enjoyed sharing our approaches to business, and I learned so much from the other founders and their feedback,” Thompson said in a statement of a recent program roundtable. “Group brainstorming can help overcome challenges and obstacles. Bask & Bloom will continue growing because of our participation in this group.”
Arch Grants has awarded around $17 million in non-dilutive grants to attract or retain 252 early-stage businesses in St. Louis since its founding; portfolio companies have created more than 3,700 jobs in the region, $922 million in revenue and more than $731 million in follow-on capital.
“This group of entrepreneurial leaders will serve as a brain trust, support network, and hopefully, a future funding and investment source for Arch Grants and its awardees for many years to come,” Angieri said. “St. Louis is evolving as a startup city, and the Fellows program is a significant stride forward for Arch Grants to meet that moment.”
The U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration awarded Arch Grants $750,000 for its programming last November.
