CTNext requests $7.3M in bond funding, largely for Innovation Places program
PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED
Startup founders participate in a strategy session during a pre-COVID Hartford InsurTech Hub accelerator program in downtown Hartford.
CTNext is requesting $7.3 million in bond funding largely for efforts to create entrepreneurial ecosystems in Connecticut's largest cities including Hartford.
In a request to the state Bonding Commission, CTNext -- an entrepreneurship program overseen by state's quasi-public venture lending arm Connecticut Innovations -- is seeking $4.9 million to fund its Innovation Places initiative, along with $2 million for efforts related to higher education and $450,000 for other grants.
CTNext spokesman Tom Bradley said Innovation Places funds would be distributed among Launc[H]artford, the New Haven Innovation Cooperative, StamfordNext and the Thames River Innovation Place (TRIP). All four organizations support entrepreneurship in Connecticut.
However, Bradley said it's likely much of the nearly $5 million going toward these organizations will support programs in industries important to their respective regions. Launc[H]artford's funding will probably be spent mostly on programs involving insurtech and advanced manufacturing, while NHCC will probably spend more toward bioscience, StamfordNext on data sciences and TRIP on 'blue tech,' or water technology.
Higher education funding will go toward CTNext's Higher Education Entrepreneurship fund, which provides funding for college and university programs that train students in entrepreneurship and prepare them for work in an innovation-based economy, Bradley said.
The Bond Commission is scheduled to hear CTNext's funding request at its next meeting on Friday.
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