WIN Innovator Untapped Solutions Receives Google Start-Up Grant
The Westchester Innovation Network (WIN) participant Untapped Solutions will receive a $150,000 start-up grant from Google to grow Untapped Solutions’ employment platform.
Untapped Solutions, formerly known as ConConnect, is one of 46 U.S. recipients of this year’s Google for Startups Black Founders Fund and Latino Founders Fund.
Untapped Solutions helps individuals facing barriers to employment by connecting them with job-finding resources, mentors, and networking tools via an easy-to-use app. WIN is a Business Council of Westchester (BCW) initiative designed to connect innovative products and services with existing organizations to guide and support their development.
“We are honored to be accepted into the Black Founders Fund, which will support Untapped Solutions as we grow into a national platform that connects job seekers with employers,” said Untapped Solutions’ CEO Andre Peart.
Beyond $150,000 in equity-free cash to help fuel their business, participants in the Founders Fund program receive sales and fundraising training, technical support from Google mentors, up to $100,000 in Google Cloud credits, mental health coaching from a team of Black and Latino therapists, and participation in an amazing community.
The Google grant is the latest success for Untapped Solutions, which joined WIN in its first year. In 2022, WIN helped Untapped Solutions reach new audiences for its job-resources app through a match with the Yonkers Housing Authority.
ConConnect helped more than 150 people in Yonkers, including formerly incarcerated tenants and their friends and family members. Fifty-four percent of app users searched for jobs and others accessed it for entrepreneurial and small business development information and networking.
The collaboration ignited policy initiatives aimed at enhancing housing stability by making it easier for previously incarcerated people to qualify for rental leases.
Untapped Solutions is the second WIN innovator to receive a Google grant. Last year the health education tech company Lessonbee won a $100,000 award from the Google for Startups Initiative.
“The WIN initiative was designed to be a launch pad for growth and new investment. The Google grants for two of our tech innovators validates our value pitch to WIN participants,” said Marsha Gordon, the BCW’s President and CEO. “We look forward to seeing more of our WIN participants enter funding programs like the Google for Startups Initiative.”
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