St. Louis City and County have announced a new division to aid business startups and entrepreneurs.
Called “STLVentureWorks,"the project is an extension of the recently-formed St. Louis Economic Development Partnership.
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley says STL VentureWorks’ five locations will help connect startups to capital funding sources, as well as provide mentoring and training opportunities.
“We have developed a new division that is going to solely focus on innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Dooley. “That’s going to be the key to getting people into these building, so they can be successful and create jobs for our region.”
Travis Sheridan is an Assistant Vice President at STL VentureWorks, having recently come over from the Helix Center, a regional incubator for biotech startups.
He says the main benefit the new center will provide will be to help connect business plans to sources of capital funding.
“We can also provide strategic mentoring services to them at no additional cost,” said Sheridan. “We help prepare them for outside capital, if they’re looking to outside monies—either through angle funding, seed funding or getting ready for a bank loan.”
Today’s announcement follows other recent startup initiatives, including the “St. Louis Startup Challenge”—which provides cash and business services for winning business plans.
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