July 18, 2018

Launch NY Newsletter – July 2018

Launch NY

Launch NY News & Updates	Upcoming Events
Conversations with Launch NY: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Opportunity Zones June was a busy month for Launch NY President & CEO Marnie LaVigne, who joined several local and international event panels on some of the hottest topics for entrepreneurs and investors, including the new federal tax incentive program, Opportunity Zones, Launch NY’s most active seed fund in the region, and new $1.5 million Emerging Cleantech Opportunity (ECO) incubator. Her speaking engagements included an investor panel at Rev Ithaca with Cayuga Ventures and Empire State Development, then a round-table on Opportunity Zones in Rochester with Enterprise Community Partners, and lastly a presentation with Genesee County Economic Development Center on innovation initiatives as part of Buffalo’s host role for the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Future Forum. Join Us Wednesday, July 18th at Noon for #LaunchHour TwitterChat to Get to Know ECO Incubator & M-Corps, the New Resources Available to Cleantech Companies Are you trying to launch, grow, or scale a cleantech company? Join us on Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at noon with NextCorps and Launch NY’s ECO Incubator to learn more about these new programs for cleantech companies. Resources and sign-ups are here now, so don’t miss out! Never joined a TwitterChat before? It’s easy, just follow @Launch_NY on Twitter and use the hashtag #LaunchHour, to see the discussion. Enjoy the conversation and jump in with tweets anytime.	July 18, 2018 #LaunchHour TwitterChat: ECO Incubator to M-Corps: Programs & Resources for Cleantech Companies 12:00 – 1:00 PM July 25, 2018 The Establishment: Wine & Investing 6:00 – 7:00 PM Buffalo, NY July 26 – 27, 2018 Upstate Capital Association: Saratoga Forum Saratoga Springs, NY July 26, 2018 Advanced Electronics & Medical Devices Webinar 9:00 – 10:00 AMAugust 1, 2018 Investor Connections for Clean Energy Startups 5:00 – 7:00 PM Ithaca, NY

Startup Spotlight
Launch NY Seed Fund Portfolio Companies Continue to Achieve Success Ecolectro and Empower Equity (EMPEQ) were named among the 20 finalists for 76West, NYSERDA’s clean energy competition. As the companies prepare to pitch the judges on July 31^st and August 1^st, each company will be paired with mentors, including 4 Launch NY EIRs, Ed Bizari, Brad Gouldthorpe, Holly Hillberg, and Elisa Miller-Out. After the pitches the judges will recommend the six final award winners that will split a total of $2.5MM in prizes. Farther Farms recently announced that they have been awarded $225,000 by the National Science Foundation for a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer grant. The award will allow Farther Farms to continue researching a new process for extending the shelf life of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables without the use of chemicals, artificial preservatives, refrigeration, or freezing. Read more on the grant and Farther Farms in their press release.

#LaunchHour TwitterChat Tips	Launch NY Resources
LaunchHour TwitterChats are monthly virtual chats featuring important topics for startups and entrepreneurs. Join us over your lunch to hear from expert panelists. Check out our archive for past TwitterChats filled with tips like those below. See you at the next #LaunchHour TwitterChat Wednesday, July 18th at noon. June 20, 2018 Cleantech Innovation: Startups Creating a Sustainable Future View the whole chat on Wakelet. Q2. What is cleantech? Derek LaClair (@DerekLaClair) – Cleantech is broad term – not just renewable or efficient tech. It’s any product or service with sustainability at its core. Paul Tyno (@BNMC) – Products, services, or technology that use less material, less energy, generate less waste, and cause less environmental damage as compared to alternative. Alyson Slack (@Fuzehub) – Beyond renewable energy technologies, cleantech can be considered to include technologies that make industrial processes more efficient. For example, consider digital manufacturing innovations that allow for better monitoring, control, and waste reduction. Q7. Are there funders, federal, state, public, or private, who are focused on cleantech investments? Alyson Slack (@Fuzehub) – Plenty! FuzeHub just won a prize from DOE to start a program to help close the gap between NYS cleantech innovators and NYS manufacturers. The program includes workshops that will be held in Buffalo, Binghamton, and Long Island over the next year—stay tuned. Derek LaClair (@DerekLaClair) – This is a popular space for Impact Investors. There are tremendous facilitators in this space like @NECEC who can help with investor readiness and connections View the whole chat on Wakelet. Join us for our next #LaunchHour TwitterChat, July 20, 2018 at noon for ECO Incubator to M-Corps: Programs & Resources for Cleantech Companies!	Upstate NY Resource Network Check it out here > Upstate NY Rainforest Canvas Study Check it out here > 5 Business Stages – Where are you? Each stage contains critical deliverables for moving forward. Starting with the Explore stage, see where you are on the path to success. Find out here > Entrepreneur Toolkit The toolkit is a set of templates and links designed to help start, launch and grow your business in upstate New York. Check it out here > Is Launch NY a fit for you? Launch NY provides entrepreneurs experienced mentoring using best practice processes and connections to specialized resources both in and beyond the Upstate NY ecosystem.Thus preparing you to compete for and win the funding and additional resources needed to move forward. Apply Now! >

Meet the Launch NY Team
Mike McCourt
Mike McCourt brings over 20 years of sales & business development experience along with 15 plus years of engineering work. In his latest role as President of McCourt Associates, LLC he works with NYSERDA and Launch NY as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and has been a member of the teaching team for NEXUS-NY, a cleantech proof-of-concept center for the past five years. He advises many clean energy startup companies in NY State. Additionally, he provides go-to-market consulting to high tech firms nationwide. Prior to forming McCourt Associates, he led Nokia’s solutions sales and partner development efforts in North America. In this role he worked closely with third party software developers and consumer electronics companies to create and introduce new location-based products to the market. Prior to joining Nokia, Mike served as VP Wireless Business Development at InfoSpace, Inc. He has generated over $10M in annual revenue by generating new business with many of the mobile operators in the emerging wireless data market. Read more about Mike and our other EIRs on our website.

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