ARIZONA – The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) has announced plans to expand the Arizona Innovation Challenge (AIC) program.
Through three new and improved entrepreneurship programs, known as Venture Scale, Venture Raise and Venture Start, the ACA will offer more individualized support to startups participating in the AIC.
The Arizona Innovation Challenge was launched in 2011 as a way to identify and accelerate support for Arizona’s most promising startups. Since then, 140 awardees have been selected from more than 2,800 applicants representing a combined portfolio value of more than $5.8 billion.
AIC’s award-winning companies are from sectors such as information technology and software, life and life sciences, clean technology and renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing. Among the companies awarded in previous editions are notable startups such as AlgoFace, Botco.ai, CampusLogic, Paradox, Ampcera, GT Medical Technologies and Trainual, among others.
In addition to grant support, AIC winners previously moved on to the ACA’s Venture Ready Accelerator, a six-month, one-on-one support program that helped entrepreneurs refine their business plans, improve go-to-market execution strategies and increase investor readiness.
“The Arizona Innovation Challenge was extremely valuable to Trainual. I greatly appreciated the program, mentorship and investment in the early stages of my business,” said Chris Ronzio, CEO and Founder of Trainual, and Fall 2018 AIC awardee.
The ACA will be accepting applications for the 15th annual Arizona Innovation Challenge. The application period will be open from August 1-30.
The AIC consists of three rounds of judging in which companies receive constructive feedback on their applications generated from the rigorous online evaluation and scoring process. Judges will then select up to 25 semi-finalists from the pool of applicants, followed by 15 finalists who will present their companies in person to a panel of investors. The judges will select up to 10 companies as AIC awardees for 2024.
