TiE Boston's TiE ScaleUp, New England’s 1st and Only “Seed + to Series A" Accelerator Program, was announced as a recipient of the “Pathways to Scale'' grant from the Innovation Institute at MassTech Collaborative. The grant will help TiE ScaleUp continue to develop and launch programs and deploy seasoned mentors to support companies in the later stages of the entrepreneurial journey.

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Lt. Governor Karyn Polito joined executives from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to announce the $700,722 in grants from the ‘Pathways to Scale’ program, an effort from the Commonwealth to boost tech and innovation companies emerging from the startup phase and poised for growth. The four grants will help build or expand mentorship programs statewide that support ‘scaling companies’ and aim to increase the survival rate of innovative, high-growth companies across Massachusetts.

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The four awards include three grants to the UMass Lowell Research Institute, MassChallenge, and TiE Boston, as well as a planning grant for a project led by the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts.

• Amount:  $181,050
• Timeline: 12 months
• Overview: TiE Boston aims to expand the reach and capacity of their ‘TiE ScaleUp’ program, a sector-agnostic accelerator that helps scaling companies overcome typical barriers to growth by helping them optimize their strategic positioning, operations, sales, and competitive advantage. Each scaling company will be matched with two mentors who are trained to become fractional C-suite team members. Companies are guided through a curriculum including topics on attracting and retaining talent, sales, pricing & packaging, product management, company culture, and other topics relevant to scaling. 

Neeraj Chandra, Chair of the TiE ScaleUp TaskForce stated “This grant win is a very motivating endorsement of the unique value the TIE ScaleUp program delivers to the entrepreneurs and innovation economy in Massachusetts. It will really help us to grow the scope and further enhance the contents of the program.” 

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“Massachusetts has become a hub of innovation for start-up tech companies, and we want to do more to help these organizations thrive here in the Commonwealth,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Providing these companies with mentorship opportunities will jump-start their growth and bring them even closer to their long-term goals.”

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Through the work of the Innovation Institute at MassTech, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative has supported entrepreneur mentor programs statewide focused on the acceleration of early-stage startups. Evidence from the Innovation Institute’s work and its sponsored research report with MIT’s Industrial Performance Center titled “Growing Innovative Companies to Scale,” indicates that more work needs to be done to support high-growth companies in the post-acceleration stages.  The “presence of business networks, mentors, and role models” with experience launching and scaling companies was identified as a critical ingredient for Massachusetts companies looking to professionalize operations and grow headcount, revenue, or market capitalization.

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“TiE members represent every aspect of Boston’s entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Anu Chitrapu, President of TiE Boston. “ScaleUp leverages this immense combined power to turbo-charge new startups and help them find success. This grant will help us harness the combined power of our membership to support more entrepreneurs and accelerate their path to success!”  

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The event, hosted at UMass Lowell’s Northstar Campus in Lincoln, featured welcoming remarks from UMass Lowell Vice Chancellor for Research, Dr. Julie Chen and a roundtable of executives from the four grantees. Also in attendance were several local companies that will benefit from the grants. 

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The Innovation Institute has shepherded numerous programs that bolster the growth of innovative companies statewide, including targeted investments in research and development infrastructure, workforce development programs that fund internships at startups and boosting diverse talent in the state, and programs that boost emerging sectors in the Commonwealth.

For companies interested in learning more about the TiE ScaleUp Program, visit www.tiescaleup.org. To learn more about TiE Boston, visit www.tieboston.org. For companies interested in learning more about The Innovation Institute at the MassTech Collaborative, visit https://masstech.org/. Additional Source:  Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Press Release

About TiE ScaleUp

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A program of TiE Boston, TiE ScaleUp works with emerging “high-growth potential” companies to overcome typical barriers to growth by helping them optimize their business plan, strategic positioning, operations, sales and competitive advantage. The ScaleUp program, which began in 2015, now proudly counts 93 dynamic start-ups among its alumni. â€‹

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About TiE Boston

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TiE Boston connects tomorrow's founders with today's entrepreneurs, executives and venture capitalists. Founded in 1997 by entrepreneurs who immigrated from the Indus region, TiE Boston champions inclusion in innovation by blending the fundamentals of entrepreneurship with traditional Indian values that place importance on community, mentorship, and long-term relationships.

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TiE Boston is one of the region's largest and oldest organizations supporting the Massachusetts entrepreneurial ecosystem, focused on supporting entrepreneurs throughout their lifecycle — from ideation to creation, through growth, wealth creation and ultimately, support of future founders.

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The TiE Boston community encompasses students, founders, experienced entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists. Its programs foster trusted, long-term relationships between its participants — span education, mentoring, networking, and funding.

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For more information about TiE Boston, visit https://www.tieboston.org/.

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