 |
| Atlanta, GA night skyline |
ATLANTA, GA (July 9, 2013) – Invest Atlanta has been awarded
two grants - $150,000 from the Ford Foundation and $50,000 from the City of
Atlanta’s Community Development Block Grant program - to help the newly
incorporated Startup Atlanta fulfill its mission to connect, support and expand
Greater Atlanta’s entrepreneurial community.
 |
| Bess Weyandt |
Invest Atlanta created Startup Atlanta in 2012 to cultivate
the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the organization recently became a
standalone nonprofit organization.
“We are a city of innovators and risk-takers with a long
history of starting and running successful companies of all sizes,” Mayor
Kasim Reed said. “We are excited to be supporting our entrepreneurs through
Startup Atlanta with the financial support of these grants.”
Brian P. McGowan, President and CEO of Invest
Atlanta, said growing more successful startup businesses is critical to
creating new jobs in Atlanta.
 |
| Mayor Kasim Reed |
“Startup firms and new companies dominate net job creation
in our country, and that is why we are focusing on how to encourage and support
the creation of new businesses,” McGowan said. “Atlanta is already ranked
nationally as a top city for entrepreneurship, but we know we can do more to
make Atlanta an even better place to launch and grow a business.”
Bess Weyandt, Executive Director of Startup Atlanta,
said the grants will enable the organization to create the infrastructure to
support a thriving environment for entrepreneurs in Atlanta.
 |
| Brian P. McGowan |
“We are grateful for the financial support from the Ford
Foundation and the City of Atlanta, and we will continue to strengthen the
ecosystem in Atlanta that helps startups succeed,” Weyandt said.
For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please
contact:
Tony Wilbert
The Wilbert Group
404.405.3656
