If you’re a Carolina student who has a promising idea for a startup, the 1789 Student Venture Fund can help you get your concept up and running – and help you make an impact faster than you may imagine.
The 1789 Student Venture Fund provides Carolina students with critical seed funding to explore, test and launch commercial startups or social ventures at their earliest stages. This fund doesn’t involve competition, so students can apply without the pressure of outshining their fellow students via on-stage presentations or head-to-head pitch battles. Instead, this fund allows students to focus solely on growing their own idea, exploring how their venture can make the greatest human, social or economic impact possible.
As a participant, you must use funding to develop some aspect of your actual venture, not for purely individual education, skill development or career preparation purposes. For instance, possible uses of funding include prototyping, product development and testing, company app and website development, customer discovery, software development, licensing fees, supplies, or advertising or marketing your venture, etc. Because the fund is operated by Innovate Carolina and the 1789 co-working space and community, students receive more than just funding. Their ideas are bolstered by additional resources that include entrepreneurial mentors, professional service providers, networking opportunities, and other tools and activities.