Arch Grants

This EDA investment will support the scaling of the Gateway Ascend Initiative: Providing Capital, Customers, and Talent to Propel Startups’ Growth in the St. Louis Region. With this initiative, Arch Grants seeks to leverage regional strengths and priorities to support innovative companies as they grow and scale—with the intention of retaining these companies in the Greater St. Louis region. The project goal is to build a thriving ecosystem of innovative entrepreneurs and companies that contribute to the region’s economic success. Further, Gateway Ascend will solidify Arch Grants and St. Louis as critical partners for early-stage entrepreneurs looking to seed and grow their innovations.

Through its unique Startup Competition model, Arch Grants provides grants and access to a network of resources, helping early-stage startups grow and thrive. Gateway Ascend is the natural scaling of this model, furthering Arch Grants’ support by providing clearly defined pathways to capital, customers, and talent that compel and enable startups to headquarter, build, and scale in St. Louis. Arch Grants will focus on four pillars: three industry verticals (agrifoodtech, geospatial technology, and advanced manufacturing), and a fourth pillar of underrepresented groups (women, BIPOC, veterans, immigrants, and others).

Gateway Ascend will: 1) Leverage existing connections and building new connections within the industry verticals; 2) Develop community relationships to help raise capital and seek out their customer base; 3) Partner with St. Louis and national talent pipelines to help Companies recruit talented individuals; and 4) Create InnoArch Labs, where startups can take advantage of the many benefits of coworking.