The US government has backed the launch of the Startup America Partnership to help entrepreneurial companies start or grow.
More than a dozen firms and organizations have joined the partnership, including Facebook. Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM and Intel, as well as private equity firm Blackstone Group’s charitable foundation and non-profit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.
Intel Capital, the corporate venturing unit of semiconductor company Intel, will commit $200m to US companies, after last year organized a group of 24 venture capital to commit $3.5bn for the same goal over a 24-month period.
Computer company IBM said it would invest $150m this year to fund programmes that promote entrepreneurs and business opportunities in the US.
HP is investing more than $4m this year in its HP Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs, a global programme started in 2007 that uses education and technology to help entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Facebook will launch its Startup Days, a series of 12 to 15 events around the US designed to provide entrepreneurs with access to expertise, resources and engineers to help accelerate their businesses.
As part of Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s $50m commitment to entrepreneurship, the organization plans a $5 million expansion of its Blackstone LaunchPad programme piloted at two Detroit colleges. Based on a model created by the University of Miami, LaunchPad will be replicated over the next five years in five other distressed regions around the country.
The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education for at-risk high school students from low-income communities, is launching programmes supporting young entrepreneurs and their teachers. Accountancy firm Ernst & Young will honour these youth entrepreneurs at its regional Entrepreneur Of The Year Award galas across the country, while the Pearson Foundation is working with NFTE to build its Digital Teacher Network, a free online community for teacher collaboration and training that will be used not only by NFTE’s 5,000 certified teachers but also by any educator interested in entrepreneurship.
Separately, search engine group Google is sponsoring two new efforts in NFTE’s Bay Area programs: The Flat Classroom Exchange will allow local educators to team-teach the NFTE program in real time and leverage each teacher’s individual expertise, while the Makers Class project will integrate NFTE’s curriculum with invention and engineering lessons.
New Markets Education Partners is providing NFTE with seed capital to launch this year an interactive, online business planning course and social network connecting mentors, teachers, and students.
The Startup America Partnership is chaired by Steve Case, co-founder of internet services provider AOL and chief executive (CEO) of venture capital firm Revolution as well as chairman of his Case Foundation. Case said: "America’s story has been forged in large part by entrepreneurs who have against great odds created innovative products and services that have changed the world – and created millions of jobs."
The partnership will receive launch funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Case Foundation. Carl Schramm, CEO of Kauffman Foundation, will serve as a founding board member of the partnership.
The partnership will work closely with the US government’s White House to bring together entrepreneurs, start-up firm funders, CEOs, university presidents, foundations, and other leaders to help entrepreneurial companies start or grow.
Mark Radcliffe, senior partner at the world’s largest law firm DLA Piper, said: "The critical role of innovation and startups to the economic success of the US was recognized for a second time in a week: first by President Obama in his State of the Union address and again by the announcement of Startup America. IBM committed over $350m to fund startups and Intel and HP committed an additional $150m to fund and train entrepreneurs. This announcement reinforces the need for corporations who are serious about innovation to support these government initiatives and engage with the startup community."
"We are pleased to help lead this partnership," said Carl Schramm. "At Kauffman, it is our mission to develop and fund programs to support entrepreneurs, and to help educate policymakers about the role entrepreneurship and innovation play in our society. This partnership will bring together partners from across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working together toward a common goal: supporting the entrepreneurs who are the lifeblood of our economy."
For more information about the Startup America Partnership and to see a full list of partner commitments, visit www.startupamericapartnership.org