Sacramento Startup and Innovation Ecosystem Circuit Board v2.0

Startup Digest is a weekly newsletter curated by Laura Good and Jeff Bennett that highlights news and events in the Sacramento startup community.

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Startup Grind Sacramento hosts monthly startup events to teach, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. Rich Foreman is the founding director of the Sacramento Chapter of Startup Grind.

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Networking. Entrepreneurship. Drinks and Snacks. This is a semi-informal event organized by Bryan Barton held several times a year, intended to foster a sense of community for Sacramento startups of all sizes- from napkin sketch to IPO!

Startup Hustle, a program from Hacker Lab and Sierra College, is an 8-Week Lean Startup Incubator designed to help participants launch a new startup.

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Startup Weekend Sacramento is a weekend-long hackathon where aspiring entrepreneurs and startup enthusiasts pitch ideas and create a startup in the course of a weekend. The Sacramento organizing team typically holds an event in the Spring and Fall each year.

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Hacker Lab, a coworking and maker space in Midtown, offers 3,000+ square feet of coworking and maker space. A community space that educates folks and supports entrepreneurs and creatives. Hacker Lab fosters technology by offering community driven mentoring and education! Build Code Unite!

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At Hacker Lab, we believe that technology can change the world and the starting point is education. That’s why a partnership with Sierra College fits so perfectly. Together, we’re setting out to fuel innovation in Rocklin and the surrounding area. So whether you’re an entrepreneur, maker, coder, or just starting out, come on by and take advantage of our resources.

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I/O Labs, a new downtown innovation space will house Sacramento’s largest community of innovators, along with technology, design, civic innovation, urban prototyping and media labs. I/O Labs will be additionally supported by several leading companies and organizations in the region with a focus on innovation and growth.

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As a Code for America Brigade, Code for Sacramento is part of a national network of civic-minded volunteers who contribute their skills toward using the web as a platform for local government and community service.

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The International Game Developers Association of Sacramento was created to help foster growth of professional game development in our local region. Their mission is to advance the careers and enhance the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.

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Local meet ups, organized through the site Meetup.com, are host to dozens of tech meet ups monthly in the Sacramento area. Meetup groups focus around areas such as web development, Javascript, Ruby, WordPress, Drupal, Oracle, Virtual Reality, 3D Printing and many more.

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Hackathons provide a great way to get involved with the community and create apps for specific causes. The Sacramento region is home to several hackathons each year, typically sponsored by city, county, or state governements or programs like Code for America.

Health 2.0 Sacramento is a grassroots group of innovators who meet up regularly with the mission to cultivate and propel health technology — especially mobile, wireless, and Internet technology. Health 2.0 Sacramento brings together health, technology, innovation, & entrepreneurship enthusiasts in Sacramento & the Central Valley.

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AgStart, an activity in operation since 2013 supporting our region’s ag-and-food technology startups, has transitioned from SARTA to its own 501(c)3 non-profit, and currently operates a business-mentorship and incubator/co-working program in the region. AgStart showcases ag-and-food tech startups in events throughout the year and connects entrepreneurs to people and organizations who can move their business forward.

CleanStart, a former program of the now defunct SARTA, has relaunched as an independent nonprofit to support green technology companies and startups. The nonprofit will focus on supporting businesses and technologies that focus on developing forms of sustainable energy. CleanStart will be housed in the new downtown Sacramento co-location offices of Velocity Venture Capital.

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The Urban Hive offers creatives and entrepreneurs shared work space, private offices, meeting rooms and conference rooms for collaborating, connecting and creating.

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Modern style, high class amenities and a central Midtown location; Outlet is a place where artists, start-ups, and professionals can all come to work... together.

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an express coffee shop, and a coworking experience.

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Founded in 2008, Capsity is an owner-occupied professional workplace located on 21st Street, south of Sacramento’s Broadway Corridor. Originally built in 1949 as a US Post Office, modern renovations provide a spacious interior of over 4,500 sq. ft., featuring clean and secure work habitats, accented by ample sunlight and a community Art Gallery.

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InnoGrove is a shared coworking environment for mutual benefit that inspires creative thinking, sharing of ideas and mutual support. InnoGrove was founded by innovators living and working in Elk Grove. We felt the need to create a space for technologists and innovators to meet, work, and collaborate on a range of subjects.

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Another former program of the now defunct SARTA, MedStart is the Sacramento region's virtual medtech incubator. MedStart represents over 140 entrepreneurs and startup companies and boasts an active advisory and mentor network focusing on the nine-county Sacramento region

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Davis Roots is a non-profit start-up incubator dedicated to growing the entrepreneurial community in Davis and Sacramento.

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The Big Bang! offers mentorship, team building, education, financing and networking for aspiring entrepreneurs.

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Billed as a "heavy incubator," Area 52 is geared towards building products and starting a manufacturing business. The space features office space acccessible to a full fabrication facility, as well as experienced engineers and fabricators.

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The Glue Factory is shaping Roseville’s future with a three-fold approach.
1. Entrepreneurial Development: We provide space, education and connections for the next generation of entrepreneurs to begin building their businesses.
2. Community Building: We offer professional training and networking connections to create growth opportunities for local professionals.
3. City-Wide Health: Through a partnership with The Health Education Council, we offer health-focused events and programs to inspire city-wide wellness.

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The Green Screen Institute is a collaborative initiative to spur innovation in the emerging virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) markets, incorporating an accelerator and investment program for startups, a co-working space for established corporations, and planned programs including vocational training.

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The Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy helps develop successful entrepreneurs by providing real world mentoring, training and a network of support from local business leaders.

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UC Davis is recognized as a national center for new, creative, & innovative ideas and is ranked 16th highest in research funding. According to the Sacramento Business Journal, UC Davis launched 14 commercial startups for the 2014 fiscal year. Since 2003, 62 startups using UC Davis-originated technology have launched.

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Sacramento State works with UC Davis in cellular biology and stem cell research and is associated with the Sutter Institute for Medical Research.

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The Art Institute of California – Sacramento, a branch of The Art Institute of California – Los Angeles, offers among other programs, a bachelor of science program in Game Art & Design. The bachelor’s degree program in Game Art & Design prepares graduates for careers in the game and other industries as 2D and 3D artists, texture mappers, and project managers.

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Formerly known as Velocity Venture Capital, Impact Venture Capital teams with Bay Area investors to focus on the triangle between Sacramento, Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

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Velocity Venture Capital presents an annual Entrepreneurs Showcase and Demo Day, an invitation only forum that provides a unique opportunity for angel, corporate, venture and institutional investors from the Sacramento and Silicon Valley regions to hear pitches from promising seed stage technology startups from Velocity’s Entrepreneurs Showcase Accelerator program.

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Through the Venture Catalyst DRIVE™ (Distributed Research Incubation & Venture Engine) Program, UC Davis is taking a distributed approach to developing a network of lean, thematically oriented business incubators both on-campus and off-campus. DRIVE will consist of a network of start-up incubation facilities (the DRIVE™ Network Innovation Centers) to be facilitated through the Office of Research by Venture Catalyst with management of the actual incubation facilities handled by the physical facility owners. Startups will enter into leases directly with the Innovation Center landlord.

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Founder Academy is a Sacramento-based Silicon Valley training and mentoring program for entrepreneurs.

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The Sacramento Region’s leading facilitator of economic development.

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Akers Capital, LLC is a venture capital firm dedicated to making private equity investments in emerging technology companies. Akers Capital manages Pac West Technology Fund I, LP, an investment partnership that invests in emerging technology companies in the Northwest and Northern California.

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Aside from capital investment, the Moneta team works closely with stellar entrepreneurs, developers, and sales and marketing teams to build on their ideas to optimize growth and profitability, so promising early stage startups can thrive.

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The Sacramento Angels™ and their Venture Capital strategic members believe in the journey of the entrepreneur and startups; the journey to make the world a better place, to create jobs and to keep America strong, competitive and at the forefront of innovation. We believe in this journey because we have traveled the path ourselves, either as entrepreneurs, working as executives in onetime startup companies, or as investors in the venture capital industry. If you are on such a journey or if you want to help guide and support those who are, then we encourage you to join us. Whether you are a potential member wishing to join our group as an investor or an entrepreneur seeking early stage capital we encourage you to take a trip around the site to learn more about us and our activities.

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Almond Tree Capital and its founders identified a unique and pressing opportunity to capitalize on medical technology and device businesses and assets. With deep passion and knowledge from the financial, marketing, legal, and technical world, the founders joined forces and developed a novel playbook for medical device and technology investing.

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CVF Capital Partners is a California-based investment firm that provides the capital and resources needed to help small and medium-sized businesses thrive. We offer a flexible capital solution through subordinated debt and preferred equity securities, as well as the relationships and expertise to take businesses to the next level.

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Sierra Angels is Nevada’s premier angel investment group founded at North Lake Tahoe in 1997. Our Membership consists of 50 highly experienced executives and entrepreneurs who provide funding, mentoring and strategic introductions for meritorious early-stage technology companies primarily in Nevada and Northern California. We also proactively collaborate with other angel groups throughout the Western States. To date, our Members have funded greater than 60 companies in a wide range of industries, including software, Internet, wireless, social media, IT, health tech, and clean tech, among others. Sierra Angels is a founding member, and on the Board of Angel Capital Association (ACA) and Angel Resource Institute (ARI).

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DCA Capital Partners makes direct investments in promising businesses led by talented and committed management teams. In addition to providing capital, we will partner with you to accelerate revenue growth, increase market share, enhance margins, and optimally position the company for a high-value, strategic sale. We typically take minority positions, which allows you to get the capital you need (for growth or shareholder liquidity) while still maintaining operating control of your business.

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Silicon Bay Partners is a holding company established to acquire and develop new leading edge technologies as well as promising early growth stage companies within the Software, Internet, Mobile Applications, and Real Estate sectors.

We partner with entrepreneurs who think differently and generally invest in founder-led, bootstrapped companies with fast-growing usage.

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AGR Partners is a capital provider that cultivates profitable, long-term growth in companies we see as indispensable assets of our food chain. AGR invests internationally in food and agriculture companies.

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WayUp’s cornerstone workforce development and employment initiative is the creation of a Medical Innovation Zone (MedZone) on Stockton Boulevard in close relationship with UC Davis Medical Center, Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Dignity Health.

While MedZone’s primary benefit will be the creation of jobs, including those for local residents, fundamentally the initiative is a strategic tool for community economic development that will result in a vibrant and healthy neighborhood.

A successful MedZone will strategically create a thriving local economy, an educated local workforce, and jobs for local residents. It will, in essence, become a national model for the kind of community economic development that truly benefits all stakeholders.

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In his State of the City address in January 2016, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced an initiative to invest $2 million into the startup accelerator “500 Startups” which would invest in at least 10 new companies in Sacramento.

In his State of the City address in January 2016, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced the investing $1 million from new city innovation fund into Sacramento startups, $500,000 to fund small grants for organizations that “grow and train entrepreneurs” and an effort to find & develop additional innovation zones that provide physical space and resources for entrepreneurs.

In his State of the City address in January 2016, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced an initiative to create a “Mayor’s Innovation Office” focused on helping startups.

TBD

Pollinate Davis is a shared downtown Davis coworking community that promotes collaboration in a professional, inspirational and self-sustaining space to grow and nurture entrepreneurialism. Pollinate provides creatives, entrepreneurs, freelancers and startups a space they can call “home,” without the hassles of a traditional office.

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The Los Rios Community College District is a two-year public college district serving the greater Sacramento region of California.

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Sierra College, a California community college, has its main campus located in Rocklin, California. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to 4 year Universities, offers career/technical training, and classes for upgrading job skills.

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The UC Davis-HM.CLAUSE Life Science Innovation Center is a 3,100 square-foot, off campus facility that is administered and owned by HM.CLAUSE, a global leader in the production and sale of vegetable seeds. It is equipped with biochemistry, molecular biology and chemistry lab space, and also offers 1,800 ft² of contiguous greenhouse space.

As a business incubator, the center provides the technical services and support needed in order to turn viable ideas into successful businesses. The shared goal of UC Davis and HM.CLAUSE is to create an environment that breeds innovation, fosters creativity and inspires synergy. As is common for incubators such as this, tenants are able to lease space for a maximum term of two years in order to allow others to benefit.

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Women Who Code is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers by creating a global, connected community of women in technology. The Women Who Code Sacramento branch holds technology and coding learning sessions in and around Sacramento County and are eager to help startups/individuals working on tech startups in the region.

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1 Million Cups is a free, national program designed to educate, engage, and connect entrepreneurs. Developed by the Kauffman Foundation, 1MC is based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and network over a million cups of coffee.

1 Million Cups Sacramento will be launching September 21, 2016. Each week, one or two early-stage startups will present their companies to a diverse audience of their peers, mentors, educators, and advisors. Each founder presents for six minutes, followed by a 20-minute question-and-answer session with the audience.

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Davis Funding Club invests in smart people solving difficult problems using startups to commercialize intellectual property coming out of U.C. Davis and the local Davis economy. Club membership is focused on investors that are local to the city of Davis or associated with U.C. Davis in some way.

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Small Business Development Center provides first-rate, no-cost confidential consulting to small business owners interested in achieving growth and profitability. They utilize workshops and one-on-one advising with access to all kinds of loans and funding alternatives. They are a non-profit and funded by the Federal government as well as key local partners.

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Coworking | Collaborating | Networking

SACWork will bring together public and private sectors as well as non-profits that support entrepreneurship. Ongoing contact with the business community at large, SACWork is designed to be a place where businesses can connect to a community for a richer working experience.

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The “Sacramento Region Innovation Awards” is an annual program that recognizes and celebrates pioneering innovations and the local talent behind new products, services and processes in the Capital Region. It is presented by Stoel Rives LLP, Moss Adams LLP and the Sacramento Business Journal. Nomination period runs June-July with awards event in the Fall.

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The Sacramento District Office covers the 21 North Eastern counties of California and has seen continuous growth in both technical assistance and loan guarantees over the last six years. The District serves close to 3.9 million people and has over 200,300 small businesses. The District Office and its strategic partners have counseled and trained over 100,000 business owners and provided loan guarantees to 6,000 businesses for a total exceeding $1 billion dollars. In fiscal year 2015, the District made loan guarantees and provided access to capital to 929 businesses for a total dollar amount of over $384 million dollars.

The District is home to Four Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), three SCORE Chapters, a Veteran’s Business Outreach Center (VBOC), and a Women’s Business Center (WBC) as well as a Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC).

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California Capital was established as a SBA Women’s Center in October 2012. They are committed to helping entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses through educational workshops, one-on-one assistance, online learning, and connection with local resources. Although their services are available to all, they are committed to meeting the unique needs of women in business.

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Valley Extends is a Full Service Sales and Marketing Accelerator that helps Companies grow, by offering services that impact operations such as: hiring, sales, marketing, growth hacking, training, back office, payroll, human resources to start. Our job is to Launch Companies and their GoToMarket.

Our campus (1 Million+ sqft of space) is a tech startup’s paradise. We don't just provide office space. We've designed the perfect ecosystem that fosters networking, community, and innovation specifically designed to help tech startups thrive. We also have a Hotel, Gym, Pools, Conference Center that fits 4,000+ and Flights that go to San Jose, San Carlos, Palo Alto, SFO and other Bay Area locations.

Lastly, Valley Extends has strong relationships both local VC’s and VC’s from around the United States. It’s vital that our relationships include investors who are open to startups form Silicon Valley, LA, Seattle and other Startup hubs along with overseas Startup operations.

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The mission of Center for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration (CBA) is to develop and nurture innovative business ideas and to capitalize potential entrepreneurial opportunities, both from CSUS and local entrepreneurship communities. The Center will provide entrepreneurs with the skills and resources needed to launch a venture and to identify and cultivate solutions to entrepreneurial problems, the network structure to bring the plan to fruition, and the technical training to grow the enterprises.

The Center for Entrepreneurship is designed to provide a new venture incubator service, providing residences, endowments, in-kind office hours, and limited business resources.

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The Get STEAMED Digital Badge project, by Operation Innovate, is an educational leadership project that offers digital badge certification for underserved youth ages 16 - 24 in top three STEM/Tech Fields IOS App, Website and Video Game Development. The project aims to train and badge 45 youth in IOS App Development, Instructional Website Design and Development, Video Game Development, Startup Entrepreneurship and Workforce Readiness.

The Elevate Project is a mentor program for female tech entrepreneurs. Program goals are to increase success of women-led businesses and counter negative biases towards female entrepreneurs. Grant funding will support the creation of infrastructure for the project in Sacramento, a strategic roadmap for implementation in Sacramento, and events to engage this community.

Yellow Circle is an organization committed to making careers in information technology more accessible. Yellow Circle’s CodeIT! Academy project aims to create an advanced online learning academy where students of all ages, races, genders, locations, or socioeconomic status can gain hands-on experience and education in all aspects of information technology.

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Square Root Academy trains the next generation of engineers and scientists coming from underserved areas in the very communities this demographic resides in. It ensures that this program is accessible to those who need it most at no cost at all to the students. Using a hands on STEM based curriculum, in class mentors connect the mathematical and scientific theories taught in the classroom to real life applications. The projects created foster a sense of academic empowerment within the students creating by bridging the gap between the concepts in the classroom and their practical use.

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The Green Tech Web Builders Bootcamp introduces low income youth from diverse ethnic backgrounds to high technology careers serving as a springboard to web development, design and manufacturing. Introducing underserved youth to high technology gives them an opportunity to join a workforce currently experiencing a disparity in women and minorities. The program also encourages self-employment and entrepreneurial skill building exercises and innovative project based learning.

MakerHQ is a nonprofit organization that exists to provide a collaborative community space focused on harnessing the technical, artistic, and scientific elements of our city through endeavours in education, research, and team projects.

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Rocket Department will open a prototyping lab where entrepreneurs can validate and build their business ideas. The primary goal is to provide access to high quality equipment and technical experts who know how to use them. This lab will address the gap between entrepreneurs with the ideas and the people with the technical skills to build those ideas. Rocket Department will provide the tools and people needed to prototype and manufacture their products in Sacramento.

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E49’s Suite 210 shared work spaces are designed to bring together like-minded entrepreneurs, businesses, nonprofits, churches and civic organizations to build connect, build relationships and grow in their businesses/ministries through collaboration.

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Suite 210’s incubator intensive program, operated by E49 Corporation, is focused on equipping and mobilizing nonprofit and for profit businesses that solve social issues in the Sacramento Region through networking, mentoring and training. Suite 210 serves as a co-working space designed to blend incubator programs for nonprofit and for-profit businesses to solve social issues through networking, mentoring and training.

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Sacramento State's Center for Entrepreneurship hosts the Sac State "Pitch" Competition coinciding with Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. Students have the opportunity to pitch any business idea they want in front of a panel of judges, venture capitalists, and millionare business owners.

Square One Clubs is a software and game developer business accelerator made up of game developers and organizers wishing to give back to the emerging game development community in Sacramento. Square One will secure a location that will include the addition of a training/event space and studio, enabling the organization to build an educational program and host both private, member only events, and public events to server the larger community.

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Blacktop Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm focusing on companies with pre-money valuations in the $5 million range. They focus on companies they feel can can achieve returns of 10 times or more. Blacktop’s primary interest is software companies, although they're open to other businesses.

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The newly-launched Project SlingShot is an initiative of the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) to encourage and support regional partnerships across the state to engage in new collective actions that can “move the needle” on workforce challenges.

After an extensive planning and review process, SlingShot was approved for implementation in August 2016 and will include an innovation fund of $750,000 to provide grant and contract funding to support the ecosystem for entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses. The project is being implemented in the Capital Region by a partnership of four local workforce development boards: the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA), Golden Sierra, the North Central Counties Consortium, and the Yolo County WDB, with SETA acting as the lead partner.

The goals of Project Slingshot are to catalyze entrepreneurship, business and employment growth across high growth economic clusters, such as Information and Communication Technology, Health Services and Advanced Manufacturing. SlingShot will foster the development of entrepreneurial skills within career pathways and provide robust resource systems to start-ups and small businesses.

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