Launch NY invests in three Rochester startups
Three Rochester startups were among nine business to receive funds from Launch NY in the second quarter. The investments, from both its nonprofit Seed Fund and for-profit LP Fund, totaled $385,000.
The local companies that received funding are:
- Eat Me Ice Cream LLC, which produces plant based frozen desserts in savory, smoky and tropical flavors. Its core values include creativity and imagination, taste experiences and awareness through connection, sustainable environments/food systems/future of food/eco packaging, women empowerment and cross cultural experiences.
- Paradigm, which manufactures devices, both for the retrofit and OEM markets, which reduce pollution in gasoline and diesel engines, resulting in substantial reductions in fuel and maintenance costs while improving engine uptime.
- The Perfect Granola LLC , a granola manufacturer with a social purpose: sharing a portion of its profits with charities, and administering a student mentorship program. The Perfect Granola is distributed in Wegmans, Walmart, Hannaford, ShopRite, Tops and many other retailers, as well as New York State school lunches
Launch NY is a venture development organization which provides pro bono mentoring and has an active seed fund for high-growth startups across the 27 westernmost counties in New York State. Its investments in the second quarter represented various sectors, including the food, technology, insurance and automotive industries.
“Our region’s greatest resource is its brainpower,” said Marnie LaVigne, President and CEO of Launch NY. “Even amidst a global pandemic, we still had significant activity across all of our #InvestLocal platforms. Inventors kept innovating, entrepreneurs kept creating and investors kept supporting. I couldn’t be more proud of these fearless and formidable changemakers.”
The LaunchNY Nonprofit Seed Fund LLC, in operation since 2016, is designed to provide $25,000 to $100,000 in investment capital to companies that meet Launch NY’s criteria. It has been supported by grants and donations from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and U.S. Department of Treasury CDFI Fund, among dozens of individual and organizational funders, and has invested over $3 million in startups to date.