Mousetrap #259 Tech Events Are Back!

Finally! Snow. OK, bring on the warm weather, thank you. The tech event weather is warming up. Check out the variety of interesting events I found.
What’s new this week?
Apply (scroll down)MetaProp Up to $250,000 in financing (Deadline Jan 15)Veterans Entrepreneurship Training I (Deadline Jan 10)Events (See events section)
AI in Wikipedia
Presenting Credible Financials
Using NYC’s Open Data
NYC Investor Roadshow
Responsible Tech MixerA Better Mousetrap partners with companies we believe in. For sponsorship opportunities email marcos@bettermousetrap.nyc

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SponsorFree Revenue Strategy AssessmentDo you want to balance revenue growth with social impact? Mission Flywheel helps mission-driven leaders prove their impact with measurable outcomes. Sign up for a free revenue strategy session to talk through your challenges in sales, business development, customer success, marketing and/or revenue operations. Let’s talk.

Jan 12 C-Suite/VPs/Directors only: GTM in Asia BreakfastJan 14 Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Wikipedia Day 2024 (focus: AI in Wikipedia Projects)
Jan 16 Build The Right Team To Get FundedJan 17 Webinar: Kickstart 2024 With Impactful DEI ProgramsJan 17 Win Investors’ Trust with Credible Financials (on Zoom)
Jan 18 Silicon Harlem Inspo Meetup
Jan 19 Creative Mornings with Jad AbumradJan 19 Discovering NYC Open Data: Online Session (on Zoom)
Jan 24 Cornell Tech + Cornell Alumni Happy Hour & MixerJan 24 Her Workplace – Women in Product Speaker Series in NYCJan 29 Responsible Tech Mixer + Data Action Day
Jan 31 Startup Pass: NYC Investor Roadshow 2024 Get $200. off with code: GOLDPASS200

Funding, Grants, Competitions, Training Opportunities

Responsible Tech Job Board Want to improve our tech future? Work in it! Positive change happens from inside tech companies, from outside oversight/research, and from reimagining our possible tech futures. Find or post a job here.Job hunting? Tech: NYC’s Job Board is one more place to look.NYC Department of Small Businesses offers free online courses from coursera NYC Economic Development Corporation – Summer Internships

Pipeline Capital Partners: Investing in: Accounting, AI, Big Data, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Enterprise, FinTech, LegalTech, Productivity, SaaS. Check size – $250,000 to $2M. Learn more & applyAV Startup School: Health & Bio 6 week online course. Are considering starting a company in Health or Bio? Are you a PhD, MD, MBA, engineer, product manager or a technical graduate?
Have recently started a company in Health or Bio and have raised less than $500K?
No cost, zero equity taken. Learn more and apply VentureCrushFG Pods is an accelerator(NY/DC/CA – virtual + in-person) that builds a community of founders and strives to avoid engendering competition between fhe founders within VCFG. VCFG does not 1. Take Equity 2. Charge 3. Require anyone to do business with anyone else 4. Have a Demo Day. Sessions begin in May. Learn more & applyFutureMoney Group Launches $5M DePIN Accelerator Program with IoTeX Foundation  $50k investment and potential for additional funding. 6 week virtual program
Applications accepted Dec. 24, 2023 – Jan 14, 2024 Read more & apply

NJ Innovation Evergreen Fund for VCs – Provides a platform to partner with the private sector to raise and invest capital in qualified New Jersey-based companies. Once a venture capital firm is pproved, their fund can access up to $12.5M per year to invest. Open to both VC funds and NJ business. Learn more

Angel Match Program: Through Angel Match, the NJEDA can provide up to $500K in funding to early-stage, product-based innovation companies in New Jersey via a convertible note that is matched with the company’s preferred equity fundraise.
CSIT’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Direct Financial Assistance Program Pilot provides technical and financial support to small businesses seeking to or participating in the federal SBIR/STTR program. Learn more Startout Growth Labis a startup accelerator that offers top quality mentoring, education, and networking opportunities for companies that happen to be founded or co-founded by LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. Explore all the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s programs.

The Lab is looking for innovative finance solutions that can unlock investment to tackle some of the most difficult climate and sustainable development challenges and investment opportunities for a net zero economy. Learn moreForum Ventures Live Pitch Competition: NYC Prize: $100,000 Open to early-stage B2B SaaS founders who have raised under $1M USD. Submission deadline, Feb 14.

Ganas Ventures | Community-driven founders: Apply for $100K

Lattitude | US Latino founders: Lattitude is hosting a Live Match-Up Competition that will offer up to $1M of equity-free capital to the winner. Learn more & ApplyGreenlight Innovation Fund RFP New York City Economic Development Corporation (“NYCEDC”), is launching the Greenlight Innovation Fund Request for Proposals to provide City capital funding for the development of facilities in New York City that support Innovation Industries, including the Green Economy, Life Sciences, and Advanced Technology. Learn more about this and other NYCEDC Request for Proposals (RFPs). edc.nyc/RFPsSonic Labs accelerator program. (from Fantom Foundation) Apply by Feb 6 Up to 5 teams participating will receive:
An equal share of 1,000,000 FTM
Direct mentorship from Andre Cronje
Guidance from Marc Tillement from Pyth
Compliance and payroll support from Request Finance
Company structuring and legal guidance from Fantom Foundation’s Eli Bernstein.
The opportunity to be part of the official Sonic mainnet launch in early 2024
Access to private capital from our venture capital partnersHot leads from City Government. NYC outsources work your company could provide. NYC mayor’s office of Contract Services lists work the city will be contracting in 2024.  You might be surprised at the range of services NYC needs. Search here.NYC CoolRoofs provides New Yorkers with paid training and work experience installing energy-saving reflective rooftops. The program supports the City goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 Learn more and applyFree tax prep for freelancers NYC Launches Free Tax Prep For Self-Employed With CWPD And Freelancers Union. Learn more

Veterans Entrepreneurship Training I (VET-I) NYU Veterans Future Lab’s free, introductory educational program for active duty service members, US military veterans, and their spouses who seek to learn entrepreneurial skills or pursue business ventures. Apply by Jan 10 Energy Innovation Competition 2023 See this LinkedIn post Open to Bootstrapped, Pre-Seed,Seed,Pre-A,
Series A companies. Deadline unkown. (to me at least!)

OpenAI cybersecurity grant program It almost goes without saying why they would want to fund these initiatives…

New York State’s Regional Economic Development Council funding is renewed by the state each year, and divides $225 million annually between 10 regions across the state. Companies can apply for both capital and operating grants, and funding can also support creating new business incubators. Learn more.
MetaPropUp to $250,000 in financing
• 22-weeks focused on growth and accelerated market penetration
• Access and intros to industry decision-makers, technology pilots, premier sources investment capital and international media
• Participate in Pilot and Demo Days, + discounted or free attendance at industry roundtables and networking events
• Pairing with select C-level mentors from MetaProp’s
Apply by Jan 15, ’24The federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide funding and eventually government contracts to innovative companies with under 500 employees developing and researching new technologies, and partners them with nonprofit research institutions. Initial phase funding grants begin at $50,000 and second phase grants are typically $750,000. Learn more.Polygon Labs $85M Grant Program to Draw Builders to Its Ecosystem – Grants are for both later stage Co’s (up to $1.5 Mil) and early stage Co’s (quadratic funding grants) Learn more.
The NYC Proptech Piloting Program provides piloting opportunities, pilot implementation support, and access to talent to support pilots for technologies that address the needs of City government’s nearly 500 million square feet of real estate under management. Learn more.

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub – Up to $150K towards Azure OpenAI Service to supercharge your integrations. Learn more.
NYCEDC Launches Venture Access Alliance that Aims to Build a Tech Ecosystem that Reflects and Leverages NYC’s DiversityThis is super promising, especially given the two people who are co-chairing this initiative. The Alliance is co-chaired by Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Jarrid Tingle of Harlem Capital Partners in partnership with the Ford Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Tech:NYC and more than 70 venture capital firms.NextFab Ventures
Philadelphia, PA, USA | Oct 16 – Jan 15. Helping hardware entrepreneurs jump-start their business by providing them with hands-on technical and business consulting.  Funds up to $100k for 6% equity. Rolling AdmissionsThe NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has a range of Financial Solutions to support:
* Discretionary tax benefits, tax credits, and tax-exempt financing
* Catalytic investment capital in the form of loans, equity, credit enhancements, and other hybrid instruments
* Advisory services for internal and external stakeholders on strategic financial topics Learn more here
Global Millennial Capital’s Accelerator Web3 2023 Program: For early-growth companies to define their business model and expand their network of global relationships. Up to $250,000 per company. Deadline unknown. Learn more
Women Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp (WEB) – an immersive day of workshops and activities for women founders of seed stage tech companies. Ten to twelve founders will spend the day in New York with investors from Amex Ventures, subject matter experts from American Express and Project W, and a cohort of their accomplished peers to dive into strategies for scaling their businesses to get Series A ready. Apply nowFutureworks Makerspace at Brooklyn Army Terminal is a state-of-the-art community workspace for entrepreneurs, makers, architects, and artists. Makerspace supports local manufacturing and entrepreneurship by providing access to tools for local prototyping. Learn more
Empire State Dev Pre-seed and Seed Matching Fund Provides $30 mil. for early-stage, high growth start-up companies. The fund offers early-stage businesses equity investments from $50K up to $250K with matching from the private sector (there must be at least $1 of private sector investment for every $1 NY Ventures invests). Targeting Advanced Manufacturing, AgTech, Climate Tech, Consumer Products, Data/SaaS/AI, Fintech, Healthcare, Life Sciences and BioTech, Medical Devices. No known application deadline. Learn more.

TachyonX Accelerator TachyonX is Consensys’ newest program supporting innovative Web3 founders at the very beginning of their journey, with a $150,000 with a SAFE and token side letter for 4% equity and pro rata token right to insider token allocation and access to the Consensys Mesh network. Rolling admissions so… Get rolling and apply!
Awesome Foundation Every month the foundation gives away $1,000 – just like that.