Winrock International and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Thursday that Winrock has been awarded a $576,302 grant for its Innovation Fund, or I-Fund, through the Economic Development Administration’s Regional Innovation Strategies program.
The grant will provide money for a range of services to Arkansas entrepreneurs and startups. The services will be delivered through a business accelerator program to assist potential startups in Arkansas.
The Winrock’s Innovation Hub launched the original I-Fund in 2016 with $1 million from IberiaBank Corp. The Delta Regional Authority expanded the effort in 2017 with an additional $1 million grant to create the Delta I-Fund, an accelerator for early-stage startups across the eight-state Delta region.
The latest grant will expand the program through training, mentoring and technical assistance to help them build businesses throughout the state.
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