The Main Street Ventures’ funding programs support local entrepreneurs in the idea/prototype and revenue stages with equity-free business start-up funding, rather than traditional investments.
Donor Name: Main Street Ventures
State: Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/30/2023
Size of the Grant:
- Launch Funding: $5,000 – $10,000
- Leap Funding: $10,000 – $30,000
Details:
This no-strings attached funding model supports:
- Bold Ideas: Grants allow founders to take bold ideas to the next level without investor limits.
- Inclusion: Supporting good ideas across all spaces encourages innovation in the community.
- Growth: Accessible, debt-free funding creates opportunities for other financial support.
Programs
- Launch Funding
- Launch Funding provides emerging, pre-revenue businesses that have a Prototype or Product (showing clear evidence of direct customer engagement validating the business model and product) with $5,000 – $10,000 of equity free funding to continue development and prepare for market entry.
- Leap Funding
- Leap Funding provides promising, revenue-generating businesses with $10,000 – $30,000 of equity-free funding to scale their community impact and increase the odds of long-term survival. Funding is awarded to businesses that demonstrate the potential to continue to create jobs and opportunities in the Greater Cincinnati Region.
Eligibility Criteria
- Business Type
- Applicant must be a business entity (C-Corp, S-Corp, or LLC) with a Federal Tax ID (EIN).
- At this time, they allow applications from all industries
- Applicant must be a business entity (C-Corp, S-Corp, or LLC) with a Federal Tax ID (EIN).
- Business Location
- Business Entity must be located in the Greater Cincinnati region (Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties in Ohio; Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties in Kentucky; and Dearborn County in Indiana). Grant requests from other regions will NOT be considered.
- Application Responses
- Businesses must show customer demand and strong progression since the founding.
- Funding requests must focus on specific growth projects. MSV defines a growth project as a step that will help accelerate your business growth.
- MSV Grant Funding is designed to help businesses scale by covering key Direct Costs, not General Operating Expenses.
- Businesses must explain the impact of Grant Funds on the business OR the Cincinnati Region.
- Special Consideration will be granted to:
- Women and Minority-Owned businesses
- Businesses that can show matching funds from other sources
For more information, visit Main Street Ventures.