About MassChallenge

The Problem and Opportunity

Fueled by the innovation engine in Massachusetts, the American entrepreneurial ecosystem is the most creative and resilient in the world. But the current economic crisis has placed our entrepreneurs and innovators in peril by eliminating funding sources and discouraging risk taking. Times of crisis are notoriously prolific periods of innovation – this is the perfect time to catalyze the enlightened, high-growth firms and industries of the future.

The Solution

We propose using a combination of public and private funds to catalyze growth and jobs by launching a multi-million dollar Venture Funds Competition in Massachusetts across six tracks:

• Healthcare, and Life Sciences
• IT, Software, and Gaming
• Clean Technology and Energy
• Social Development and Non-profit
• Open Category, Seed Stage
• Open Category, Expansion Stage

A Venture Funds Competition combines the collaborative, educational and catalytic impact of a business plan competition with the business and job creation of a seed fund.

This is an efficient and effective form of stimulus and is an ideal means for Massachusetts to harness and showcase the expertise of our universities, VCs, lawyers, entrepreneurs and businesses – after all, we’ve been providing revolutionary ideas since 1776.

To learn more, please contact us.