COLUMBUS, Ind. – The Columbus Board of Works met on Tuesday and approved a contract between the city and the Columbus Area Chamber Foundation outlining responsibilities of each in launching “Velocities,” the brand under which various entrepreneurship-related activities will take place.
Bloomington’s Dimension Mill, a co-workng space, and Elevate Ventures, a venture capital fund and entrepreneurial development partner, along with the Columbus chamber have formed Velocities. One provision of the partnership is that each community comes up with $500,000, and then Elevate Ventures will provide an additional $1.5 million, for three years’ worth of working capital totaling $2.5 million.
The local portion of the contract calls for the city of Columbus to contribute $100,000, and the other $400,000 coming from the Heritage Fund and the Duke Energy Foundation.
The money will be used for early-stage investing in new businesses and hiring an entrepreneur-in-residence to coach those individuals who are starting businesses.