Venture Creations gets $1.2M state grant extension

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Elizabeth Lamark/RIT Production Services

Bill Jones

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has given Rochester Institute of Technology’s business incubator, Venture Creations, a four-year, $1.2 million extension of its original $1.5 million grant in 2008.

Venture Creations is the only clean energy incubator in the Rochester area, which means many of the businesses based there are involved with innovative ways to make energy or preserve the environment.

“It validates the work we’ve been doing,” said Bill Jones, Venture Creation’s executive director.

Since opening in 2003, Venture Creations has housed 34 companies, created 164 jobs and brought in more than $25.7 million in private capital raised. Last year, SweetWater Energy, a graduate of Venture Creations and the Clean Energy Incubator, signed its first commercial contract for $100 million.