News

Innovation board promises $100,000 grant for rural regions

Rural Southwest and Southside Virginia are in line for a new six-figure grant for entrepreneurship, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation has announced.

The innovation partnership, which held its board meeting Wednesday at the New College Institute in Martinsville, gave word at a Tuesday night dinner that it will commit $100,000. That’s the latest grant in a series that the partnership has given in the region over the past couple of years.

Details on how to access the funding were not available yet but are forthcoming, VIPC spokeswoman Angela Costello said.

“That funding is going to be part of collaborating and partnering to help foster more ecosystem growth, around entrepreneurship, around startups,” said Joe Benevento, VIPC’s interim president and CEO. “And that involves really key aspects such as mentorship, for example, so that we can understand where the gaps and challenges are, that we can help solve for in rural Virginia, and particularly in this region.”

The work force is here, and capable, he said. But Benevento wants to help grow the investment capital side of the equation, particularly in the early stages, through the likes of angel investors.

“And I think it’s an area that, through partnerships and collaborations with other stakeholders here locally, would really help take the ecosystem to that next level,” he said.

Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick is the VIPC vice chair.

Merrick said that committing $100,000 is “a great idea, because it grabs people’s attention. And it says we’re not just talking about [it], and we’re actually going to do something about it. And we will be providing more guidance on that in the not-too-distant future.”

Merrick and Benevento said the grant is intended for the GO Virginia economic initiative’s regions 1, 2 and 3, which cover most of Southwest and Southside.

The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation has developed multiple sponsorships in the three regions over the past couple of years, according to information that Costello provided. Those include:

  • $45,000 in VIPC Virginia Accelerator Network sponsorships for fiscal year 2023-24 to the Launch Place, a venture development organization that works in areas including Martinsville, Danville and Pittsylvania County.
  • $25,000 for the Advancement Foundation, which works with entrepreneurs in Southside and Southwest Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.
  • $7,500 annually for the Southern Piedmont Technology Council, Southside’s regional technology council.

The corporation also has co-hosted Global Entrepreneurship Week virtual meetup events in 2022 and 2023 with the SOVA Innovation Hub and Longwood University, and its staff participates regularly in Southern Virginia Regional Investment in Startups & Entrepreneurs, a regional initiative for entrepreneurship and innovation in Southern Virginia.

For the GO Virginia regions in question, $100,000 is “a starting point,” Benevento said.

“What hopefully it signals is that we want to help be a catalyst to leverage and amplify and activate greater capital through public and private partnerships,” he said. “So I think it … will help catalyze that conversation and get some of the right people and the right stakeholders in the room together and at the table, and see where it goes from there.”

Recent News

04/23/2025

Grenova Secures New Investment; Appoints Life Sciences Veteran to the Board

Grenova, Inc., a Virginia-based innovator in sustainable laboratory technologies, today announced two significant milestones for the company: the appointment of Ted Hull to Grenova’s board, and the successful completion of a new round of growth equity capital. These developments support Grenova’s strategic vision to drive innovation, expand automation capabilities, and deliver transformative solutions to laboratories

04/22/2025

Phlow Corp. Expands Analytical Capabilities and Embraces Artificial Intelligence-Driven System, Ushering in a New Era of Modern Medicine Manufacturing in America

Phlow Corp., a leading pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) in America, announced a significant expansion in its analytical capabilities, use of artificial intelligence (AI), workforce, and domestic infrastructure. Marking a period of exceptional growth and momentum, Phlow has more than doubled in size and now employs over 90+ highly skilled scientists and professionals

04/22/2025

ATCC Announces New Executive Leadership Appointments

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced several new leadership appointments. Rebecca Bradford, MBA, has been promoted to the role of senior vice president of Government Programs, ATCC Federal Solutions (AFS); Manoj Menon, PhD, has joined the company as chief operating officer; and Rupali Lach was appointed vice president of Commercial Operations.