Launch NY invests more than $2M in 32 companies during 2020

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Launch NY worked with more than 175 investors to deliver $2.23 million to 32 companies through its #InvestLocal community.

Its effort during 2020 “pushed the venture-development organization to over $5 million in lifetime investments,” the organization said in a Jan. 25 news release.

Launch NY’s #InvestLocal financing programs in 2020 provided seed capital for Central New York companies that included CathBuddy, Inc. and Promptous, Inc., both of which are members of the Syracuse Tech Garden. 

Southern Tier firms that benefitted included Dimensional Energy, Inc., Ecolectro, Inc., Exotanium Inc., and ShrubBucket, all of Ithaca; Ellicottville Greens LLC in Western New York; and Iterate Labs, Inc. (formerly OrthoFit), which has a leadership team that includes Cornell University graduates. 

Buffalo–based Launch NY describes itself as the “first and only” nonprofit venture-development organization that provides the 27 westernmost counties in New York with pro-bono mentoring. It says it helped companies access COVID-relief funding programs and “critical and unique” seed-funding programs.

Besides its Buffalo headquarters, Launch NY has co-locations with partner organizations in Syracuse, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Rochester.

“On March 13, 2020 — not even at the end of Q1 — life as we knew it changed overnight due to the pandemic,” Marnie LaVigne, president and CEO of Launch NY, said. “While other entrepreneurial programs, dependent on in-person events and incubator facilities, were put on hold, our regional delivery of services and funding that already leveraged remote communications quickly grew to fully virtual interactions.”

LaVigne said both grew because the investment community rallied to help fuel companies solving new market needs while driving jobs to counter the devastating hit to the local economy.

Launch NY’s #InvestLocal financing programs were built around its nonprofit seed fund. It was designed to “catalyze startups with the little publicized, but crucial ‘first money in,’ typically ranging from $25,000 to $100,000,” per its release.

“At a time when the only predictable thing was unpredictability, we’re celebrating the adaptability and perseverance of our regional economic community who worked hand-in-hand with our team to keep driving forward our mission of inclusive economic prosperity through high-growth entrepreneurship,” LaVigne said. “I am confident that we’ll see this same resilience, collaborative spirit and positive impact in 2021.”