BUSINESS

30 companies selected for Mountain BizWorks' ScaleUp WNC program

Special to Citizen Times

ASHEVILLE -  After a highly competitive round of applications, Mountain BizWorks is pleased to unveil the 30 regionally headquartered companies selected for the 2019 ScaleUp WNC program.

Each of these companies have demonstrated a compelling opportunity for growth and economic impact. Through ScaleUp, the companies will receive intensive growth management training, will be connected with experienced mentors from the Hatch AVL Foundation (Hatch), and will receive access-to-capital support.

“Every new ScaleUp cohort is a milestone for our region’s small business economy," says Rebecca Crandall, Mountain BizWorks board member and a regular program speaker as an intellectual property attorney at McGuire, Wood & Bissette. "We're particularly inspired by this group of companies which hail from Macon to Mitchell counties, already support 140 quality jobs, and are poised for growth."

The 30 new companies will join 90 alumni companies that have been served by ScaleUp WNC since its launch in 2015. In addition to being one of the most mature annual classes with average revenues of $498,000, the group is also the most diverse class to-date with 70 percent of participants being women, people of color, veterans, or rural-based.

ScaleUp 2019, and the new program partnership between Mountain BizWorks and Hatch, is supported in-part by a recent $100,000 grant from NC IDEA. It was one of 13 projects statewide that received funds through NC IDEA’S ECOSYSTEM grants program, due to its added emphasis on advancing rural entrepreneurship.

“Through this award, we’re very pleased to be partnering with Mountain BizWorks and Hatch to further entrepreneurial opportunity across rural WNC and the statewide exchange of ideas, experiences and connections” said Thom Ruhe, President and CEO of NC IDEA.

ScaleUp WNC will be hosting a Spring 2019 Cohort on campus at Western Carolina University for the first time since its inception. Having a presence on campus will also afford participants direct access to WCU programming and faculty in an innovative way.

“WCU is excited about partnering with ScaleUp WNC and hosting the Spring cohort at our Cullowhee campus and Biltmore Park instructional site. We are committed to regional entrepreneurship and business development and see this as a vital need in Western NC,” noted Arthur Salido, Executive Director of Community and Economic Engagement and Innovation at WCU.

The newly added partnership between Mountain BizWorks and the Hatch AVL Foundation is providing the participating companies with additional one-on-one mentoring through the Hatch Mentoring Program. George Glackin, Founder and Chairman of the Board explained, “Hatch’s mission is 10-10-5, that is, to support the growth of ten companies in Western North Carolina, to reach $10 Million in revenue, over the next 5 years!  Mountain BizWorks supports this mission as well, and we're delighted to bring Hatch's world-class Mentor Team to ScaleUp.”

The following 30 accepted companies will be actively building their ScaleUp WNC growth plan in the Spring Cohort at Western Carolina University and the Summer Cohort at Lenoir-Rhyne University:

  • Active Strategies
  • Archetype Brewing
  • Asheville Tea Company
  • Boomerang Communications
  • Climbmax
  • CoreSelf
  • Deal Family Farms
  • Dig Local
  • Foothills Local Meats
  • Global Language Systems
  • Gold Star Honeybees
  • Kudzu Brands
  • Little Sprout Carryout
  • Living Sabai
  • Luxury Therapeutics
  • Mountain Laurel Handrails
  • One Click Fix
  • Peoples Golf
  • Qualla Java
  • Sanctuary Brewing Company
  • Shanti Elixirs
  • SimpleTix
  • Smallcakes Cupcakery & Creamery
  • Sora Surya No
  • Terrane Glass
  • The Blind Pig
  • The Bright Angle
  • Urban3
  • VaVaVooom
  • WNC Repairs