Happy Summer! This month, we thought it appropriate to focus on some of our food-related companies – with a special nod to one of Maine’s favorite delicacies, lobster!
Earlier this month we launched PRIME 2.0, to assist businesses within the seven targeted technology sectors and help them mitigate the adverse economic impacts associated with the global pandemic. In the summer of 2022, we issued a solicitation for PRIME Phase 1 funding. We ended up making 175 awards totaling just over $26 million. In late 2022, we administered the PRIME Ecosystem program which offered grants to entrepreneurial support organizations. MTI issued 15 awards totaling more than $6 million. The remaining $7+ million in available funding will be deployed through the PRIME Phase 2 program. The program opened on July 17 and will remain open through August 30th. For more information, including scheduled zoom webinar information sessions, please visit the Prime 2.0 resources on our website. MTI will aggressively expand its outreach on this program to encourage companies to apply that have not yet received ARPA funding from us or other state agencies – funds must be used to strengthen the company or mitigate residual impact of the pandemic. Specifically, we are looking to attract companies that are “new to MTI” and that are led by underserved entrepreneurs or operate in rural regions of Maine. Requests of up to $250,000 will be considered and award decisions are expected by the end of September.
Lastly, please save the date for our 25th anniversary celebration! Details forthcoming next month, but to commemorate and celebrate MTI’s 25th anniversary, we will host an event on October 29th at USM’s Abromson Center in Portland (likely 4P – 7P) with a panel discussion for the first hour that applauds 25 years of success and also talks about our plans for the future. The final two hours will allow for networking with exhibits from a dozen or more MTI portfolio companies. We don’t want to think too much about the cooler fall months (or maybe we do with some of the summer heat), but we look forward to celebrating with you in October.
I hope you’re finding time to relax with family and friends over these summer days.