Thanks to an influx of new capital, the
Wooster Opportunities Loan Fund (WOLF) is expanding to offer business loans to technology startups throughout Wayne County.
Established in late 2010 to provide capital to small and emerging tech companies with high growth potential, WOLF started out as a $220,000 hyper-local fund. “The city of Wooster, Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce and Wooster Community Hospital put up the dollars for the fund, so loans were available only to those businesses willing to locate within the corporation limits of the city of Wooster,” says Justin Starlin, Development Manager for the City of Wooster.
That has changed thanks to a $100,000 investment from Cascade Capital of Akron that will be used to help startups grow and create jobs. “We now have $100,000 in direct loan money available for businesses throughout Wayne County and $150,000 remaining for businesses within the city of Wooster,” Starlin notes, explaining that the hyper-local fund awarded two $35,000 loans in 2011.
The recipients of those loans were ManuscriptTracker and the JNP Group. ManuScript Tracker’s software organizes and automates the peer review process for academics. The JNP Group engineers and manufactures acoustic products for the construction and building industry.
Applications for the next round of funding from WOLF are due December 17th. JumpStart will perform the initial vetting. Applicants who make it through the process will be considered for funding by a local committee administered by the nonprofit Wooster Growth Corporation. Loans of up to $35,000 are available.
Source: Justin Starlin
Writer: Lynne Meyer