KOFI JONES
Director of Communications & External Affairs
(617) 788-3652 (voice)
(617) 721-2231 (cell)
Kofi.jones@state.ma.us

DARRELL LeMAR
Deputy Director of Communications
(617) 788-3655 (voice)
(617) 686-6908 (cell)
Darrell.LeMar@state.ma.us

DEVAL L. PATRICK

Governor

TIMOTHY P. MURRAY

Lieutenant Governor

Gregory Bialiecki

Secretary

Addressing business and innovation leaders at an IT Collaborative meeting held at Microsoft in Cambridge this morning, Governor Deval Patrick and Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki said the launch of the MassChallenge Venture Funds Competition, conceived as a non-profit enterprise by three Massachusetts entrepreneurs, will be supported through a $100,000 planning grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s John Adams Innovation Institute.

The state’s public investment was more than tripled immediately, attracting private funds from multiple sources. Desh Deshpande, a successful entrepreneur and coach to several startups, generously agreed to match the state investment as a Founding Sponsor. Microsoft, which hosted the IT Collaborative Workshop at the company’s New England Research & Development Center in Cambridge, has also agreed to provide $75,000 to MassChallenge, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has committed an additional $50,000.

A Venture Funds Competition combines the collaborative, educational and catalytic impact of a global business plan competition with the business and job creation of a seed fund. Starting in 2010, MassChallenge will:

• solicit startup plans from academics and professionals around the world;
• strengthen the startups via direct mentorship and coaching;
• filter the startups via a judging panel comprised of local experts; and
• fund the very best startups to enable immediate launch.

Winners would be required to headquarter and create at least five jobs in Massachusetts, and investment funds would be contingent upon the acquisition of matching investment from at least one outside investor to ensure adequate due diligence and governance.

“We want Massachusetts to be home to start-up companies with innovative ideas, a tireless work ethic and the ability to create good-paying jobs,” said Governor Patrick.  “This competition will help ignite start-up activity and propel the state’s innovation economy forward.”

“This early-stage support will help create a web-based network of the rich entrepreneurial assets and resources available across the Commonwealth,” said Greg Bialecki, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development.  “This work provides the platform upon which MassChallenge will launch and operate its Venture Funds Competition in 2010.”

MassChallenge is specifically designed to catalyze and showcase collaboration and commercialization in the Commonwealth in an effort to attract and retain more startups locally. It is not intended as a replacement for any existing organizations and will endeavor not to duplicate any existing efforts. Rather, the competition will spur competition to harness the abundant supply of ideas and focus existing resources in the Commonwealth on seed- and early-stage commercialization.

All entrants to the Venture Funds Competition will receive coaching and feedback from successful entrepreneurs, as well as PR and networking support. Award recipients will receive approximately $50,000 cash prizes toward launching their businesses and will be authorized for additional seed money upon securing matching funds from outside investors.

“What is exciting about this program is that it goes beyond the traditional business plan competition by providing legitimate venture funding in addition to intensive mentoring, coaching and feedback,” said Desh Deshpande, a world leader in entrepreneurship.  “If we can seed 25-30 companies in Massachusetts every year for 5 years, we will change the face of entrepreneurship in the state.”

The announcement was made at the IT Collaborative Workshop at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge sponsored by leaders of the information technology sector. Sara Spalding, Senior Director of Microsoft’s New England Research and Development Center noted “Microsoft is proud to continue our tradition of support for innovative young entrepreneurs and job growth.”

“We are thrilled by the broad support of our initiative,” said John Harthorne, the Founder and CEO of MassChallenge. Mr. Harthorne is a 2007 graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he won the 2007 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and ran the 10^th annual MIT Global Startup Workshop (GSW) in Norway. The MIT GSW is the world’s premier conference on how to foster entrepreneurship via supportive infrastructure and catalytic events. MIT President Hockfield also granted Mr. Harthorne the 2007 Patrick J. McGovern Award for his impact on the quality and visibility of entrepreneurship at MIT.

Mr. Harthorne has teamed up with Co-Founders Akhil Nigam and David Constantine to form MassChallenge.  Mr. Nigam obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2007 and was on the founding team of a technology startup prior to business school. “Generous funding from all our sponsors will enable us to prepare a world-class competition, and to build a collaborative website providing access to resources across the state,” said Nigam.

David Constantine has significant startup experience with a background in the medical device industry. “It is truly encouraging how much support we have received from the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Massachusetts – what a great place to launch a company,” noted Mr. Constantine.

The MassChallenge Board of Advisors includes:

• Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande – Co-Founder & Chairman, Sycamore Networks
• Greg Bialecki – Secretary, Massachusetts EOHED
• Ken Morse – Managing Director, MIT Entrepreneurship Center
• Rich Kivel – Chair and President, MIT Enterprise Forum
• Joe Hadzima – Director and Former Chair, MIT Enterprise Forum

The organization has also received commitments of support from the presidents of MIT, BU, and UMASS, and has received in-kind services from the Cambridge Innovation Center and Fish and Richardson. You can learn more about MassChallenge at http://www.masschallenge.orgor by contacting the organizing team directly at contact@masschallenge.org.

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The Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development is one of eight Secretariats that make up the Governor’s Cabinet. Under the leadership of Secretary Gregory Bialecki, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development oversees the following undersecretariats:  the Departments of Business Development, Housing and Community Development, and Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.