Main Street Ventures is pleased to announce 15 companies that have received funding for their projects through the most recent round of grants. Three of these companies participated in the recently wrapped Launch It: Cincy Summer Program which brings university student founders to Cincinnati for 10-weeks to grow their businesses. The projects funded through this round range from expanding to new markets, adding product lines, and building emerging tech.

Grant Opportunities and Purpose

“The Main Street Ventures grant opportunity highlights why Cincinnati is such an incredible place for entrepreneurship.” Says Nia Baucke, Founder of Thread & Mane. “Starting a business is never without its challenges, but having a community of people and organizations that are willing to recognize and support your efforts along the way makes a huge difference. Designing and creating a beautiful space where women feel celebrated and validated is central to our success and the MSV grant will help us bring that to life.”  

Main Street Ventures provides two different types of funding; Launch and Leap Grants. Launch funding provides emerging, pre-revenue businesses at the Prototype or Product stage (showing clear evidence of direct customer engagement validating the business model and product) with $5,000 – $10,000 of equity-free funding to increase the odds of reaching the Market Entry-stage and beyond. Leap funding provides promising, revenue-generating businesses with $10,000 – $30,000 of equity-free funding to scale their community impact and increase the odds of survival.

“Each quarter we see a growing demand for our programs which continuously shows the influx of new ideas in the region. We are excited to be able to support these founders who continue to make the Cincinnati Region an amazing place to live and work.” Main Street Ventures Executive Lead, Brianna Dzuricsko says.

Learn about the 15 companies that received grants in Q3 of 2022: 

abba is a platform that connects individuals seeking in-home care to in-home care professionals, while providing the tools and resources to its community to book, operate, and accelerate the in-home care experience. Abba is a holistic approach taking into account the Mental, Emotional, and Physical aspects of care.

Baqette is a small, woman-owned business creating & curating leather pieces to inspire your everyday life.

BlaCkOWned™️ is a community centric brand highlighting Black Stories and promoting ownership through Fashion and Culture.

Bloxsmith empowers developers through our marketplace with the technology and community to sell their 3D model creations cross-metaverse for interoperable use in building games on Roblox, Unity, Unreal, Decentraland, Mutate, The Sandbox, among other platforms.

Bookink makes the tattoo booking experience seamless and convenient for tattoo artists and clients alike.

Cutman Barbershop is a classic barbershop providing traditional men’s grooming services whose mission is to build communities through the art of barbering and acts of service.

Dohjoy is a low-carb, low-calorie, flavorful real bread. Inside every bite is an innovative blend of ingredients that delivers traditional bread flavor and texture with virtually no carb impact or glycemic response.

In the Curious Kitchen is a female owned and founded brand creating ready-to-enjoy Southern classics, inspired by Bluegrass country.

Junebug Jewelry Designs handcrafts timeless, meaningful and unique artisan statement jewelry to honor bold, empowered women who want to walk into a room and make a powerful, lasting impression.

Obscure Euro Parts is a full service parts consignment shop helping shops, collectors and private individuals get their unwanted parts into the hands of enthusiasts who need them most.

Step Up Social is a digital marketing startup that leverages college student labor to disrupt the traditional agency model and offer services to startups typically unable to afford agency work.

Thread & Mane is a one-of-a-kind luxury experience and community space for hair braiding, beauty retail and events.

Toot Suite Press is your wedding stationery fairy godmother — we’re a wedding stationery studio offering modern, customizable designs, made with the highest-quality materials on traditional printing presses, all with an awesome, transparent online customer experience and at a price point you’ll consider money well spent.

Vale Technologies builds and designs carbon dioxide conversion devices through carbon capture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Wyoming Community Coffee (WyCoCo) is a neighborhood coffee shop serving a well-cared-for beverage to a well-cared-for customer in a well-cared-for space by a well-cared-for staff, and with our new roasting expansion, we have the goal of caring well for women in the local and global coffee industry by creating long-term careers for women here in Cincinnati and sourcing specifically from women farmers and producers around the world.

“To say we are excited to be chosen as an award recipient is an understatement! Says Sara Aschliman, founder and owner of Wyoming Community Coffee. This grant allows us to continuously reach new goals alongside the exciting growth of our company. It allows us to create more careers locally and support women in coffee internationally. Thank you MSV!” 

About Main Street Ventures

Main Street Ventures is working to become the community-funded initiative that makes entrepreneurship possible for everyone in Greater Cincinnati, by supporting entrepreneurs with what they need, when they need it: Capital, Connections, and Education. We look to support all good ideas and founders, but with a particular focus on women and minority entrepreneurs who have been historically underrepresented in the startup community.
For more information, visit mainstventures.org.

Despite event disruptions and scheduling changes due to the pandemic, the festival creatively continued fundraising for local non-profits in fiscal year 2021-2022. This incredible philanthropic achievement was revealed at a check presentation this evening.

Cincinnati International Wine Festival Fundraising

CINCINNATI – September 13, 2022 –The Cincinnati International Wine Festival announced tonight that it has now raised more than $6.75 million in total for local non-profits since its inception 31 years ago. The festival also presented $261,000 in donations to 31 Greater Cincinnati organizations benefiting from the festival’s fundraising efforts over the 2021-2022 fiscal year, totaling $520,000.

The announcements were made at a private, invitation-only event at the Kenwood Country Club earlier this evening. Leaders from the benefiting organizations were present, and each received a portion of the festival’s donation in the form of individual checks presented to each charity.

“It is such a joy for us to be able to say we have now raised more than $6.75 million for our local charitable beneficiaries focused on our community’s arts, education, health and human services,” said Connie Wiles, Cincinnati International Wine Festival Board President. “Like all non-profits, we struggled through the challenges of the pandemic, but remained dedicated to doing whatever we could to ensure our mission to celebrate the wine industry and give back to our community continued on no matter what. We are grateful for the support of wine lovers near and far, and sincerely thank every single person who attended our amazing festival events this year. Thank you for giving back one glass at a time!”

Cincinnati International Wine Festival Details

The Cincinnati International Wine Festival is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 to celebrate the wine industry and raise funds for charities focused on the arts, education, health and human services. The annual celebration is recognized as one of the Midwest’s largest and most prestigious festivals.

Like many charitable causes, the pandemic has had a significant impact on the festival’s ability to regularly host its events the past three years, making this fundraising achievement even more impressive. 

The Cincinnati International Wine Festival is comprised of five prominent annual events: an international wine competition, a winery dinner series, grand tastings at the Duke Energy Convention Center, and a charity auction and luncheon, all of which were held in May rather than March for the first time ever this past year due to Covid concerns. The Russ Wiles Memorial Golf Tournament will be held this October.

Proceeds from these annual activities translate into significant funds raised which are then granted to the wine festival’s local charitable beneficiaries on an annual basis.

In 2023, the wine festival expects to return to its usual schedule, with the bulk of its events being held in March. Save the date for the 32^nd annual festival, which is set for March 9-11, 2023. Learn more at winefestival.com.

About the Cincinnati International Wine Festival

The Cincinnati International Wine Festival is a Cincinnati-based 501(c)(3) organization established to raise funds for local charities through the celebration of the wine industry. It typically features 700 wines from 100 wineries across the globe, all for a great cause. The festival benefits 30+ Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky arts, education, and health and human services charities, and has been giving back to the community since 1991. The patronage and support of the Greater Cincinnati community enables the festival to continue giving back locally, one glass at a time. Learn more at winefestival.com.