Tampa Bay Wave Awarded $50,000 Grant To Support Accelerators

TAMPA, FL — Tampa Bay Wave Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to driving opportunity and prosperity in the Tampa Bay region by supporting the growth of high-scale technology companies, has been awarded a grant from the Florida Business Development Corp. supporting diverse founders from underrepresented populations for the second time.

This $50,000 grant will help subsidize CORE program scholarships for economically challenged startups.

According to the FBDC, it is committed to expanding opportunities for underrepresented businesses across the markets it serves.

“This grant provides us with a unique opportunity to share the resources and expertise that our team has developed over the years with entrepreneurs who otherwise would not have access to these resources," Linda Olson, Tampa Bay Wave CEO, said. "We are grateful to the FBDC for providing economic support to increase opportunities for startups to eventually qualify for Small Business Administration (SBA) loan financing programs.”

Tampa Bay Wave has a long history of running nationally recognized tech business accelerator programs, such as the TechDiversity Accelerator, powered by the Nielsen Foundation, and the TechWomen Rising Accelerator, powered by JPMorgan Chase, as well as industry-focused accelerators in CyberTech and Healthtech, adding FinTech in 2022.

Tampa Bay Wave is the only Florida-based organization accepted into Global Accelerator Network - GAN (gan.co), a network of the most respected business accelerators around the world.

Thanks to the support of corporate sponsors and granting organizations, selected cohort companies can participate in Wave’s accelerator programs at no cost, while Wave takes zero equity from the startups it supports.