The Shift: Arkansas startup resource rebrands as ARise
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An Arkansas entrepreneurial program is under new management.
The big picture: ARise — Arkansas Innovators, Startups, and Entrepreneurs — a state-funded tool to help companies flourish so they can create high-paying jobs in the Natural State, was revealed Thursday.
- The service is free to entrepreneurs focused on technology or whose business is mostly enabled by it.
State of play: It's a new iteration of Innovate Arkansas, which was managed by Winrock International for 15 years.
- Technically, the program is a subcontract from the Arkansas Statewide Technology Commercialization Center (ASTCC), an arm of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC).
- The program is the Arkansas Statewide Technology Commercialization Center (ASTCC), which falls under the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), but is branded ARise.
- Startup Junkie of Fayetteville won a competitive bid to manage the program in March and rebranded it as ARise.
The contract is valued at $848,460 per year and is renewable for up to seven years, Worth learned from Esperanza Massana-Crane, a director at AEDC.
Follow the money: Since 2008, more than 200 ASTCC client companies have amassed $939 million in revenue, creating an estimated 6,000 jobs.
- Nearly $51 million in federal grants have been awarded to those companies, and they've attracted an estimated $473.6 million in investments, an ADEC news release states.
The big picture: Program manager Kristopher Adams said ARise provides key services:
- Startup consulting and coaching customized to each business, with regular check-ins from ARise.
- Help navigating the world of capital needed to grow — whether through investors or federal grant programs.
- Connection to a network of subject matter experts (human resources, marketing, etc.) and introductions to people already established in similar or identical industries.
ARise clients also will have access to a digital resource library, events and collaborations with other entrepreneurial support organizations.
What they're saying: Both Massana-Crane and Adams stressed that ARise is a statewide initiative — its reach extends beyond central and Northwest Arkansas.
- "We want to make sure that our friends everywhere else … entrepreneurs in Jonesboro, Paragould, Pine Bluff … Texarkana, El Dorado — we want them all involved in this," Adams told Worth.
- "We'll be picking up some outreach leads in the places that we're not physically present with brick and mortar, like northeast Arkansas, southeast and southwest," he said.
What we're watching: Worth will be curious to see how many clients the new brand picks up and how quickly.
🌅 The Shift is a regular feature to catch up quick on what's happening in Arkansas' economy and entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that ARise is the Arkansas Statewide Technology Commercialization Center, it's not contracted under ASTCC.