Arch Grants for the World

Arch Grants is an economic development initiative launched in St. Louis that empowers entrepreneurs with seed stage grants. Arch Grants is a competition. Winners receive $50,000 in equity-free funding and a list of pro-bono services to accelerator their startup’s launch.

In their 2017 annual report, Arch Grants states that companies have generated over $48 Million in revenue and attracted $100 Million in follow-on capital. The program created 1,000 jobs since its launch in 2012.  

Arch Grants is both a business retention and business attraction tool. Companies from across the U.S.are eligible to apply if they relocate to St. Louis. The annual report highlights the program’s efficiency and low administrative overhead. In 2016,86.3% of expenses went to programming, 11.3% went to fundraising, and 2.4% went to management.

In 2016, Arch Grants raised $2,534,967 USD in revenue. Per the annual report, twenty companies received an award in 2016. Most awardees were from Missouri. However, other awardees came from The Netherlands, Wisconsin, New York, California, and Argentina.   

Grants for Startups

There are competing views in entrepreneurial investing. The more liberal views, typically associated with West Coast entrepreneurship, acknowledgespeed as the major hurdle for startup companies, as opposed to traction. WestCoast Investors are more liquid and more inclined to stroke seed round checksbefore companies establish revenue.

East Coast investors, on the other hand, are interested in seeing revenue before investing. East Coast investors are more risk-averse, and generally, like to see if an entrepreneur has the fortitude and craft to obtain customers without cash. The East Coasts’ manufacturing heritage likely influences this mentality.

St. Louis’s Arch Grants bridges these two perspectives by offering a robust grant program to entrepreneurs. The initiative acknowledges the importance of speed to market, and cash, in successfully launching a tech venture while acknowledging that any pre-revenue investment is a nebulous proposition for any investor.

Arch Grants for All

What is the per capita number to take Arch Grants national? Our methodology is surely not air-tight. We took the total 2017 awards of 1 Million and divided that by the St. Louis MSA population of 2,807,338. Rounding up, we get a .36 cents per person cost to launch Arch Grants at St. Louis’ 2017 capacity. 

For a total cost of $117 Million USD, Arch Grants could be launched nationally to support approximately 2,345 companies annually.