Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) announced the introduction of The Startup Opportunity Accelerator Act (SOAR), a bill aimed at helping start-ups in lower profile areas.
“Our economy is driven by the entrepreneurs and small businesses who are investing in innovation for the future,” Blunt Rochester said. “By investing in programs like SOAR, we can drive economic growth in underserved areas and further empower entrepreneurs, including women, minorities, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. I’m thrilled to be introducing this bill with Congressman Fitzpatrick and I’m hopeful that together, we can shepherd this bill to passage.”
“We know growth accelerators work at stimulating investment and job creation but too often those gains are concentrated and leave American workers and entrepreneurs in rural, suburban, and urban areas behind,” said Fitzpatrick. “Working with Congresswoman Blunt Rochester, we’ve come up with a measure to support growth in underserved communities – wherever they are – by empowering entrepreneurs with essential services like experienced leadership, office space, access to financing opportunities, and structured mentorship. Together we can plant the seeds of nationwide growth.”
“NextFab enthusiastically supports the SOAR Act’s efforts to support accelerator programs by and for every innovator and problem solver in our society. Passion and vision arise everywhere, but entrepreneurship is complex, stressful, and risky. Accelerator programs provide not only consulting, networking, space, and capital, but also the crucial moral support of fellow entrepreneurs and staff,” Dr. Evan Malone, president and founder of NextFab, said. “At NextFab we are proud of the openness and diversity of our programs and of our community, while recognizing that some have had to brave chasms of culture, distance, and cost to reach us. The SOAR Act, together with concerted outreach efforts by existing accelerators like our own, will help ensure that all passionate visionaries have a chance to positively impact the world.”
NextFab recently opened a maker-space site in Wilmington that helps entrepreneurs make products and prototypes.
The SOAR Act builds on a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Growth Accelerator Fund competition, in which accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystems compete for funding to grow and expand their reach to engage more startups and new communities.
The program has existed for three years at the SBA, offering prizes to accelerators across the country and in Puerto Rico. The SBA reported that the program in 2014 and 2015 funded 138 accelerators that supported 5,000 companies that raised approximately $1.5 billion and employ nearly 20,000 people. The 2017 version of SOAR would authorize $6 million in funding each year for 5 years.
Incubation and accelerator programs provide entrepreneurs with essential services and are critical to efforts to create an environment where startups can grow and thrive.
While the number of accelerators has grown by more than ten times between 2008 and 2015—from 16 to 170, according to the Brookings Institution, the majority of growth has taken place in high-income, well-established regions. SOAR will help to address these demographic gaps by encouraging growth with increased funding to accelerators across the country, not just in specific geographic areas.
