Arizona has emerged as a burgeoning hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, fueled by a rapidly growing startup ecosystem, young talent and a collaborative business landscape.But what sets Arizona apart from its peers is a comprehensive suite of programs designed to help early-stage companies and small businesses scale and maintain success.When it comes to that vast support system, there is no finer example than the Arizona Commerce Authority’s Arizona Innovation Challenge (AIC), one of the country’s largest startup competitions designed to advance technology commercialization for early stage startups. Since its launch in 2011, 140 startups have been selected as AIC awardees, and have gone on to represent a combined portfolio value of more than $5.86 billion.The power of mentorshipA kind of magic happens when you connect the most promising young startups with the tough-love mentorship of veteran entrepreneurs.“When you’re in a room filled with very seasoned business leaders and they are firing very good, valid questions at you from different angles, I think there’s something magical about that feedback loop,” said Gabe Cooper, founder and CEO of Virtuous Software and a Fall 2018 AIC awardee. “It’s an effective way to sharpen your story, sharpen your pitch and to ‘de-risk’ by having really smart people poke holes in your plan.”Phoenix-based Virtuous is a fundraising platform with a mission to accelerate generosity and empower nonprofits. Today, the company serves well-known nonprofit organizations across the country and recently raised $100 million in a Series C fundraising round. Virtuous has undergone incredible growth, employing just a handful of people in 2018 to more than 160 employees today.Supercharging the startup ecosystemIn August 2024, the ACA launched new venture programs designed to scale the highly successful AIC: Venture S …
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