Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Knoxville Business News Tennessee Mountain Scenery Background
October 11, 2021 | Tom Ballard

Florida group focused on helping women entrepreneurs improve their SBIR success rate

We reported last month that two East Tennessee entrepreneurial support organizations – CO.LAB in Chattanooga and FoundersForge in Johnson City –  were among 92 recipients who shared $5.4 million in awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration in one of two categories.

Both organizations were successful in the “Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC)” with applications to support start-up accelerators and incubators working with underrepresented entrepreneurs. That’s where the majority of the awards were made.

There were, however, eight recipients in the second category – “Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Catalyst” competition, a new component aimed at spurring investment in underrepresented communities within the innovation economy at scale. One of the eight was the Orlando-based Florida High Tech Corridor Council which will use the $150,000 grant to help women be more successful with their SBIR submissions, and it has enlisted four university-backed business development programs to be part of the effort.

What are the plans? Click here for the answer.


Don’t Miss Out on the Southeast’s Latest Entrepreneurial, Business, & Tech News!

Sign-up to get the Teknovation Newsletter in your inbox each morning!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


No, thanks!