Partnership awards $65,000 in grants
The Orlando Economic Partnership announced grants to 15 tech groups recently, with Black Orlando Tech and Venture ScaleUp each landing the $10,000 max grant.
“A key part of growing and nurturing a strong tech and entrepreneurial community in Orlando is the grassroots and volunteer-driven organizations that commit to making Orlando a great place for tech entrepreneurs,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a news release. “This grant program is about supporting those organizations so they can focus more on their impact to our community and less on fundraising for the next initiative.”
The grant program, which started in 2018, awarded a total of $65,000 to the groups.
They were chosen based upon four criteria: connecting startups, building the tech talent pipeline, encouraging private capital investments and improving Orlando’s reputation in tech.
“Our goal is to bridge our entrepreneurs to the larger business community,” the partnership’s vice president of innovation Sheena Fowler said in the release.
Here are the award winners:
DevFest Florida ($2,000); Down Syndrome Entrepreneur Academy ($2,000);
GetChoGrindUp Xperience ($2,000); Indienomicon ($5,000); MeGa Health Jam ($5,000); Level Up Academy Summer Camp ($2,000); Digital Orlando ($2,000); Orlando Electronic Interactive Entertainment Convention (OTRONICON) ($2,000) Startup Weekend Orlando ($6,000); StarterStudio ($5,500); Tech Sassy Girlz ($7,500); Techqueria Orlando chapter ($2,000); The Maker Effect Foundation Inc. ($2,000) other
OneRail raises $5.8 million: The expansion of the delivery economy has helped an Orlando entrepreneur raise nearly $6 million for his tech startup. OneRail connects merchants with services that complete so-called “last mile” deliveries to customers.
So far, the small company works with Warehouse Anywhere, a company that stores merchandise for clients nationwide at its network of facilities.
If a customer buys a television from a Warehouse Anywhere business client in Central Florida, for instance, the OneRail platform will connect that company with a driver to get the merchandise from the closest location to the consumer.
OneRail CEO Bill Catania said the $5.8 million raised will go toward expanding its platform and adding workers. The company has 10 employees in downtown Orlando and plans to add at least 30 more by the end of the year.
Catania told the Orlando Sentinel that among its clients is a Fortune 500 auto parts distributor.
“That was a big deal for us,” he said. “That drove home to the venture capital guys that they should invest in us.”
Catania successfully exited from a digital coupon platform that counted Publix as a customer in 2011. Las Olas Venture Capital in Fort Lauderdale led the round.
In a news release about the investment, officials said the “Amazon effect,” which uses the tech giant’s huge influence in delivery to describe consumer expectations of receiving deliveries quicker, has helped raise awareness of the “last mile” problem.