May 14^th was a big day at Arch Grants. We just announced $1,000,000 in additional funding to 20 startups.  To say that our next round of startups is excited is an understatement.  “Thrilled,” “honored,” and “WAHOO!” were a few of the emotions the entrepreneurs expressed.  I marvel that we, as an organization, get to select the innovators at the forefront of their respective fields and help them turn their entrepreneurial dreams into realities.  As Executive Director, my direct interaction with our entrepreneurs fuels my passion for creating a startup economy.  Having walked in their shoes creating my healthcare IT startup in India, I know how relentless their pursuit is to make their company come to fruition.  These people inspire me!

This newsletter encompasses so much growth for our organization – impressive economic development figures, increased donor funding for the program, additional support committed to great startups, announcement of our first gala, and outreach to raise awareness for important issues in America’s startup landscape such as immigration reform.  Looking back one year to our last announcement of the 15 inaugural Arch Grant recipients, it’s amazing to consider how far we’ve come through the support of the St. Louis community.  YOU, our partners and donors, are why entrepreneurs want to be here in St. Louis.  This great place, hash tagged #StartupCity on Twitter, is truly embodying that moniker.

As we enter our second programmatic year, I invite you to join us in new ways:

1.       Friends of Arch Grants is a great way to support our entrepreneurs, raise awareness for Arch Grants, and encourage giving.
2.       We are preparing to match startups with service providers and welcome you to contact us if you would like to donate services to the startups (info@archgrants.org).
3.       Our first gala will be October 12, 2013 and is yet another great way to get involved.

We look forward to building, with your support, this StartupCity.

Very sincerely,

Sarah Spear
Executive Director

Why entrepreneurs should entertain the idea of locating their startup companies in St. Louis:

•         Saint Louis experienced the #1 increase in percentage growth of college-educated young people among all U.S. cities with an 87% increase in 25 to 34-year-olds (CEOs for Cities, 2011).
•         Saint Louis is the fastest growing American city for technology jobs (Dice, 2013).
•         Missouri ranks as the Best State in the Country for Manufacturing and Logistics (Ball State University’s Bureau of Business Research, 2011).
•         Saint Louis ranks #13 among U.S. cities for Gen Y Workers (PayScale, 2012).
•         Saint Louis was identified by Mashable as a top place for tech hiring (2012).
•         Kiplinger identified Saint Louis as one of the top 10 cities to start a business (2011).

With close to 50 established community partnerships, Arch Grants continues to provide added value to companies looking to start and grow here in St. Louis. In Arch Grants’ first inaugural competition, 15 $50,000 non-equity taking grants were awarded to companies who locate their business in the Downtown St. Louis area. 

Within the first three quarters of the Arch Grants program (June 1, 2012 – February 28, 2013), the 15 startups generated over $1.8MM in revenues, $1.6MM in attracted capital and 65 jobs were created in St. Louis. Many of the startups also purchased products and business services from local St. Louis businesses, as well as made many connections allowing for the success of their startup. Follow-on funding was awarded to two 2012 Arch Grant recipients: simMachines and Food Essentials. Both companies have made significant progress over the past year, have a high level of commitment to St. Louis, and have potential for large scale success and reached a number of significant milestones over the course of the initial 2012 program.

Our second round of the competition yielded over 700 applications from all over the world including 16 countries (a 68% increase in applications from the first round). Announcement of the 20 Arch Grant winners took place on May 14th, 2013 and information on the winners can be found here

ST. LOUIS, MO – May 14, 2013 – Arch Grants, the global business startup competition that provides $50,000 non-dilutive grants to early stage ventures, today announces the 2013 Global Startup Competition winners. Arch Grants created the competition to help grow businesses and create a more robust entrepreneurial culture and infrastructure in St. Louis.

“The Arch Grants winners are the best of a terrific group, and are exciting young companies,” said Jerry Schlichter, Co-Founder and President of Arch Grants. “Arch Grants’ vision has become a reality. We are building an entrepreneurial ecosystem and have great partners working together to build a stronger community.”

This year’s competition attracted 707 applicants from 15 countries and 40 states. The 20 grant recipients will receive $50,000 each in funding as well as free support services. Starting in July, the out-of-town companies will relocate to St. Louis and begin immersing themselves into the entrepreneurial community.

“Our firm is pleased to support Arch Grants. As double bottom line investors ourselves, we know the impact that young growing companies can have on a community’s economy and vitality. We’re proud to be a contributor, and we congratulate these dynamic firms,” said Jonathan Goldstein, Managing Director at Advantage Capital Partners, a sponsor of Arch Grants.

“We commend Arch Grants for recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship to the growth and advancement of St. Louis,” said Alana Muller, president of Kauffman FastTrac®.

A press event will be held today at 1:00p.m. at Polsinelli, located at 100 S 4th St # 1000. On-site event opportunities include:

• Photo opportunities and interviews with awardees
• Official announcement of winners and competition details
• Interviews with Arch Grants executives
• Meet-and-greet investors and partners

Below are the 2013 Arch Grants Global Startup Competition Winners:

Adarza BioSystems, Inc.
adFreeq
Appcropolis
Candy Lab
Code Red Education
Easytork Automation Corporation
eateria
EternoGen
Genetix Fusion
Immunophotonics
Juristat
KNOW iNK
Lipospectrum
MMBiosensing
Notal Vision
Rockhound Boring Products
RoverTown
Sparo Labs
TrakBill
Triflare

Arch Grants has raised $3.3 million since its inception in 2011. To date, the first round of Arch Grants winners created 65 jobs, generated $1,832,452 in revenue and raised $1,634,000 in capital funding, all since last June.

“We appreciate all applicants that were a part of this competition,” said Sarah Spear, Executive Director of Arch Grants. “We are beyond thrilled with the number of applicants this year. St. Louis is becoming a prominent place for entrepreneurs from around the globe to start their business.”

About Arch Grants
Arch Grants is the global startup competition providing $50,000 non-dilutive grants to early stage ventures.  Its mission is to create an entrepreneurial culture and infrastructure to build successful companies in St. Louis. For more information, go to www.archgrants.org.

With four years of bootstrapping under our belts, IDC Projects is fairly comfortable stating that the myth of the Big Idea is a lie.

IDC Projects was formed in Rolla, MO some four years ago when a set of students at Missouri University of Science and Technology realized that their small college town had a university full of highly technical, intelligent students, and not much else. We started not with an idea, but with a team of like-minded individuals who saw a cognitive surplus that could be leveraged to build… something. What that something was wasn’t important.

Since our formation, we’ve gone through several Big Ideas; automated job applications, barcoding scanning on the phone, location-based games, and now mobile advertising. We’ve gotten government contracts, licensing deals, received grants and been through accelerators. Four years in business, and the only constant has been the people, becasuse we’ve carefully selected people with two specific qualities, qualities that all members of IDC Projects share.

First, everyone at IDC Projects gets frustrated. A lot. We get frustrated when we park cars, when we clean our homes, and when we go grocery shopping. We spend so much our life in this frustrated state because we are all uniquely sensitive to imperfect systems and products, to the pain points of everyday life. This frustration is where our Big Ideas come from; we’re frustrated because we not only see flaws, but we also see solutions to those flaws.

Our first (unreleased) project was an online resume tool, created because we were frustrated with applying for jobs.

Why do I have to keep filling out this same form over and over? Can’t the companies just share this info?

BarCodeScan was one of the first bar code scanning application for the iPhone, and we created it out of frustration with the shopping experience.

My phone has a camera on it, what to you mean I have to type the name of the product in order to price check it online? 

Our current project started from a deep seated frustration with mobile advertising, forged during our time working on advertising-supported games.

Why am I seeing this ad again? It has nothing to do with me!

The second trait all IDC members share is a willingness to tackle these frustrations, even if we aren’t particularly well-suited to doing so. We’ve learned an incredible amount in our four years as a company, in large part because we regularly start projects we lack the expertise to complete them, with a willingness to learn as we go. We knew nothing about app development until we made our first app, nothing about advertising until we built Memory Matches, and nothing about location-based systems before we built Hazards. Sometimes this leads us to tackling problems that  are outside of our abilities, but most of the time we find that a willingness to learn is all that it takes.

These traits, a sensitivity to imperfect systems and a willingness to bite off more than you can chew, are the heart of entrepreneurship, and they are hardly unique to IDC. I see these traits in the other Arch Grants companies, in the creators of the Arch Grants, and in my role models. They are what startups are truly about.

Jonathan Leek
Chief Creative Officer
IDC Projects

The Midwest is endowed with a higher concentration of manufactures than anywhere else in the country. Pair this advantage with a well-established network of recyclable commodity buyers, and it is clear that this region is strategically positioned to lead the country in sustainable materials management.

At a global level, there is an urgent need for businesses to reduce their environmental impact. In the US alone, manufacturers generate over 170 million tons of waste each year. About 34% of this material is reusable, and is often worth twice over what it costs to throw it out. There is a large, under-served market seeking these reusable materials. Implementing sustainable materials management is an easy (an often overlooked) way to reduce operating expenses and promote collaborative industrial byproduct synergies.

Why Sustainable Materials Management?

Efficient materials management is a progressive way for businesses to network resources locally, foster synergistic business-to-business relationships, reduce operating expenses, improve efficiency, and surpass regulatory targets. Reusing the commodities we have on hand reduces energy spent on mining and transporting virgin resources from the environment. Moreover, there is an emerging waste-to-energy market, supported by a robust network of Midwest-based technology innovators in need of niche feedstock for their unique technology needs.

Increase Transparency, Reduce Risk

Material Mix connects manufacturers with complementary waste and recycling professionals seeking reusable inventory. Moreover, we provide best practices and regulatory resources to guide our clients to make informed purchasing decisions.

Material Mix is a disruptive web-based exchange platform that commoditizes the trade of industrial byproducts within the current waste collection industry; helping waste and recycling professionals reduce operating expenses, recover investment on inventory, and monetize the trade of their recyclables. In short, Material Mix saves time and money in a sustainable way.

Our mission is to become the global standard for sustainable materials management by:

• Providing a secure, efficient, and profitable venue for brokering reusable/recyclable inventory
• Engaging waste and recycling stakeholders
• Establishing and promoting best practices for resource management

Material Mix provides an end-to-end ecosystem for waste and recycling professionals.

At Material Mix, our challenge is to provide a secure means of reducing overhead without disrupting “business as usual” for our customers. We provide a unique software solution that addresses the specialized needs of industrial manufacturers, construction & demolition professionals, and small/medium business owners alike. Material Mix aims to enhance the financial and environmental wellbeing of our customers and their community.

Material Mix is an Arch Grants and Capital Innovators partner, winner of the 2013 Missouri Clean Energy Challenge, and semifinalist in the 2012 Clean Tech Open.

Allison Carmen serves as CEO of Material Mix, Secretary of the Missouri Gateway USGBC Advocacy Committee, and Steering Committee member of WEST (Women Entrepreneurs of St. Louis).

Sustainability is neither a PR bullet point, nor a fuzzy green feeling. Sustainability is smart. Sustainability is being resourceful. It’s long-term planning, resource endowment, and improving operational and fiscal efficiency.

Sustainability is the capacity to endure (what every start-up dreams of). It is the underlying principal that allows our country’s most beloved game-changing industrialist up starts; like Ford, Dow Chemical Company, and John Deere; to continue to grow their brand over generations.

The American industrial revolution was catalyzed by a perfect storm of underlying environmental and political conditions that supported immediate and exponential growth in new ideas in manufacturing.

Today a new wave of innovation in science, engineering, and education is sparking a second period of accelerated growth in manufacturing; driven by the same underlying success factors.

Clean-Tech Needs a New Message

Manufacturers are often characterized by a Midwestern etiquette, engrained resourcefulness, and “no nonsense” business accounting.  At a glance this industry is a perfect fit for Triple Bottom Line (people, planet, profit) practices.

So why do contemporary clean-tech startups struggled to gain traction? The issue is complex. Operating in a burgeoning industry has its own challenges: longer sales cycles, uncertain and hard-won regulatory support, political regionalism, and a high-cost infrastructure.

However, at the heart of the issue is a something much more human – broken trust. “Green” technology is continually over-hyped by consumers, media, and the companies themselves. Consumer and investors alike have been misled by green-washed promises and inadequate ROI.

The biggest challenge true clean-tech startups must overcome is rebuilding this trust – through methodological consistency, execution of strong corporate ethics, and the implementation of a results-driven strategy.

To achieve this, emphasis must be placed on corporate risk assessment, full transparency, global standardization of best practices for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), and environmental accounting.  To allow new ideas to flourish; there must be cooperation between business, government, and social institutions.

Saint Louis: Just Doin’ It

Saint Louis serves as a hospitable ecosystem for vetting new innovations in sustainability and business. Our active and empowered community, robust resource endowment, and strong regional infrastructure present an optimized habitat for entrepreneurial synthesis and gestation.  Moreover, the city has emerged as a thought leader in supporting big ideas that re-shape the community and industrial landscape. As an Arch Grantee, business person, tree-hugger, and St. Louisianan transplant; it is my hope to take an active role in this industrialist movement and support St. Louis in re-branding Missouri as a progressive and innovative community of doers.

Material Mix is an Arch Grants and Capital Innovators partner, winner of the 2013 Missouri Clean Energy Challenge, and semifinalist in the 2012 Clean Tech Open.

Allison Carmen serves as CEO of Material Mix, Secretary of the Missouri Gateway USGBC Advocacy Committee, and Steering Committee member of WEST (Women Entrepreneurs of St. Louis).