We welcome three new resources to the UpStart Navigator two to help you find the funding you need to grow your startup, and one to help you connect to resources and fellow entrepreneurs Down East.
Access to Funding and Support for Maine Businesses
The Maine Funding Network is a one-stop location for businesses to find and apply for funding matches to build a business or support a business plan. Once you fill out an online form, you’re connected to one or more agencies or organizations in Maine that might best meet your funding needs. The process is further streamlined with a common loan application. On the Navigator, you can find the Maine Funding Network in the funding “neighborhood” on any of the four lines: Main Street, Microenterprise, Early Stage High Growth, or Second Stage High Growth.
The Cooperative Fund of the Northeast has been a socially responsible nonprofit lender and advisor to Maine cooperatives since 1975. It advances community-based, cooperative and democratically owned or managed enterprises, with a preference for assisting cooperatives in low-income communities. It provides both technical assistance and financing to co-ops. Its “stops” on the Navigator can be found in the funding and advisory/training “neighborhoods” on the Main Street and Microenterprise lines.
The Downeast Innovation Network supports and inspires a professional group of Downeast “ambassadors, connectors and navigators” who serve entrepreneurs and small businesses in Washington and Hancock counties. Businesses and providers can join DEIN’s “SmashUps” to share information and network, and its Virtual Friday Forums and annual in-person micro-summits to learn and help foster prosperity Downeast. The Downeast Innovation Network “stops” can be found in the “Network and Meeting Groups” neighborhood on any of the Navigator’s four lines.
Gratitude to UpStart Navigator Sponsors and SlicPix
Special thanks to our sponsors for supporting the UpStart Navigator. You can also explore any of their services while on the Navigator: Trainmaster sponsors—Machias Savings Bank, Maine Technology Institute, and Eastern Maine Development Corp. Hub Program; Conductor sponsors – Bangor Savings Bank and Katahdin Trust Co.; and Engineer sponsors – First National Bank and Rudman Winchell/Starboard Leadership.
And as always, thank you to SlicPix, the software gurus powering the Navigator, homegrown right here in Maine.
If you have questions or need guidance, we’re here to help. Contact us at innovation@upstartmaine.org.
UpStart’s mission is to be the Bangor Region’s innovation hub that connects entrepreneurs statewide with resources to grow their businesses.
For more information on UpStart, contact innovation@upstartmaine.org