Via the Rochester Beacon
NextCorps will soon begin work on launching a new accelerator targeting the software industry in the nine-county Rochester region. It marks the third accelerator program to be administered by the nonprofit.
The goal: to empower talent at Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester to help non-technical founders in jumpstarting new businesses and economic growth.
NextCorps received a grant through the federal Economic Development Administration’s Scaling Pandemic Resilience Through Innovation and Technology Challenge for this purpose. The grant money—$743,000—will be combined with matching and in-kind funds of roughly $241,000 to support the nearly $1 million program. NextCorp’s application was among 238 others from 25 states and Puerto Rico.
In total, $29 million in grants have been disbursed. These organizations will also leverage some $9 million in additional matching funds from various private- and public-sector sources.
Software entrepreneur Matt Foley, director of startup incubation at NextCorps, will run the program at the Sibley building in downtown Rochester. NextCorps plans to hire additional team members to support the program.
“Over the past three years since opening our downtown incubator, we’ve seen a continuous uptick in the number of local software startups,” says Jim Senall, president of NextCorps. “But there are no accelerator programs dedicated to this growing sector.”
