$5,000 micro grants for early-stage startups in Buncombe and Haywood County. Generously sponsored by HCA Healthcare Mission Fund, First Horizon Bank Foundation, NC Biotechnology Center, and many individuals.
Meet the 2020 Asheville Impact Micro Grant Winners.
The selection committee found themselves in a tie every time, so they decided to split the seed money amongst the six winners. This decision was unanimously supported by each of the ventures as a statement of community support. By each founder accepting slightly less funding, we could award an extra venture seed money.
- Cardstalk, a custom greeting card and gift card kiosk-based technology, Founder Stephanie Prime
- Helios Sanitizer Company, plant-based hand sanitizer using solar-powered mobile distribution stations, Founder Axie Blundon *HCA Healthcare Mission Fund Winner*
- Hire Powered Staffing, employment placement services for recovering and re-entering citizens, Founder Change Agent Philip Cooper
- Monstera Brewing, a machine that replicates water profiles from anywhere in the world, Founder Will Goff
- MosaicMath, online math tutoring and training, Founder Nathan Koerschner
- StoryVault, an interactive video platform focused on remembrance of deceased family members targeted for ethnic and racial minorities, Founder J Hackett.
Eligibility and Rules:
- Must be early-stage
- Less than $50k in revenue or $50k in funding
- Must be a high-growth potential startup
- High-growth is defined as a repeatable and scalable business model.
- Be prepared to describe the business model and your market in the application.
- Funding may not be used as a founder stipend
- Must supply funding request (up to $5,000)
- Describe how funding will be used and a supply a simple budget
- Be prepared to describe how you’ll turn $5k into more $K.
- Applicants may not be on the selection committee, although applicants are encouraged to donate to the grant fund.
- Headquartered in Buncombe or Haywood Counties
- Winners will report periodic updates on impact from grant funding
Potential uses:
- Crowdfunding preparation
- Prototyping
- Contractor support
- Tradeshow attendance or booth supplies
- Branding/Photography/Web Design
- Sourcing supplies/materials
- Customer Discovery
- Defining Customer Acquisition Cost
- A/B Testing Marketing Strategies
Read About The 2019 Asheville Impact Micro Grant Winners
2020 HCA Healthcare Mission Fund Winner
Thanks to the expectionally generous donation of $10,000, at least one winner will be chosen from the Health and Wellness industry and named the HCA Healthcare Mission Fund Micro Grant Winner.
Applicants from the Health and Wellness industry are strongly encouraged to apply.
Application Timeline
Applications Close on May 17 at Midnight
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4/21/2020 – Applications open
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5/17/2020 – Applications close
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Week of 5/18/2020 – Selection committee meets. 10 Finalists announced.
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Week of 5/25/2020 – Finalist Pitches, 5 Winners Announced. (Format TBD).
About the Asheville Impact Micro Grant Fund
Early stage startups are in a daily battle for survival. Much of the early-stage needs aren’t necessarily expensive, but force founders to compromise, choosing between learning a new skill or hiring out, choosing between keeping manual labor or buying a machine, choosing between working in the business or working on the business.
Our ecosystem has a funding gap. We can successfully get a startup through crowdfunding, and we support multiple angel groups. But we lack a mechanism to get startups off the ground. Personal savings are often the differentiator between growing and struggling startups, which further pushes our ecosystem away from diversity and inclusion. With your help, we will create a micro-grant program to offer grants up to $5,000 to high-growth potential startups in this critical phase in their entrepreneurial journey.
Ask a startup what they can do with $5,000. You’ll be shocked to hear the impact and impressed by how far an early-stage founder can stretch a dollar. We asked several, our responses ranged from creating an experiential marketing exhibit, to crowdfunding preparation, to starting prototype production, to supporting a patent application.
What you do has far greater impact than what you say. Everyone says they support local startups, now we’re asking you to show how much. We’re asking you to do more. In creating this grant, we are asking our community to step up and donate through our nonprofit, the Community Betterment Foundation, to pool donations and return those as grants to the community. Furthermore, there is only one level of giving: $200. The reason this is the only level of giving is to radically democratize the grant creation process. Each of us doing a small part has a huge impact. You can donate as an individual, as a business, or both.
This high-impact grant is a sign that our community acknowledges that not only can we can achieve great things together, but that we cannot achieve great things unless we work together.