Derrius Quarles, CEO and co-founder of the start-up company Million Dollar Scholar, narrowly escaped a path of crime growing up in the foster care system in the south side of Chicago.
However, a biology teacher saw potential in him and helped him change his trajectory. Ultimately, he was able to earn more than $1.1 million in scholarships and financial aid and attend Morehouse College in Atlanta. Now his company’s product, a financial-aid search software, hopes to help parents do the same for their college students.
Today (June 18) at the Hotel Lumiere, the nonprofit Arch Grants announced that Quarles’ ed-tech company would receive $50,000 through the 2015 Global Startup Competition.
Million Dollar Scholar was one of 11 startup companies to receive an Arch Grant. The organization provides $50,000 equity-free grants and pro bono support services to entrepreneurs willing to locate or retain their early-stage businesses in St. Louis.
Ras Asan, the company’s COO and co-founder, said both he and Quarles are “millennial age” black men.
“There’s not too many of us out here in the tech space,” Asan said.
Aside from relocating their business to St. Louis, he said they are also looking forward to working in the community to inspire young entrepreneurs. He said they want to teach students how to solve their own problems, he said, because, “that’s what entrepreneurism is all about.”
Another African-American entrepreneur who received an Arch Grant is Chris Motley, who founded Better Weekdays – a job matching platform that helps universities improve job placement outcomes of its graduates, and helps companies hire these candidates based on job compatibility and culture fit.
When he got the news about the grant, he said he was “speechless.”
“We applied last year, and we didn’t even make it to the finalist round,” he said. “We weren’t ready last year, but we are definitely ready now.”
With the grant, Motley plans to hire a salesperson, who is from St. Louis.
Motley believes that that every school in the state should be using their product.
“It helps to solve a big problem of tracking students in their careers,” he said. “State institutions are getting funding that is tied to job placement outcomes.”
The grant recipient announcement is the first of two in 2015, with the second set of grants being announced in November.
Arch Grants has awarded $3.65 million to grow 66 early-stage businesses since the organization launched in 2012. These companies have created more than 250 jobs in Missouri, generated $16 million in revenue, and raised $49 million in capital funding as of March 31, 2015.
“St. Louis was founded by entrepreneurs and immigrants and we are proud to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and immigrants who are, once again, defining our region’s future,” said Ginger Imster, Executive Director, Arch Grants.
Since the launch of the competition, Arch Grants has attracted applications from entrepreneurs from 62 countries and, in the United States, across 41 states plus the District of Columbia.
The cycle to identify the winter cohort is underway with rolling application deadlines of July 10 and Aug. 30, 2015.
Below are the summer 2015 Arch Grants Global Startup Competition Recipients:
Appbase:
https://appbase.io
San Antonio, Texas
Appbase is the first streaming database service for search and analytics queries. Businesses use Appbase for a managed real-time database infrastructure so they can focus on building their product.
Applied Particle Technology:
http://www.appliedparticletechnology.com
St. Louis, Mo.
Applied Particle Technology specializes in an innovative, energy saving, high efficiency, air purification technology to address the challenge of providing clean indoor air in commercial buildings and specialty filtration applications.
Better Weekdays:
http://www.betterweekdays.com
St. Louis, Mo.
Better Weekdays is a mobile job matching platform.
CrisisGo:
http://www.crisisgo.com
Mount Vernon, Ill.
The CrisisGo mobile app is a universal safety and communication tool for groups and organizations of any size. With the app, group members use their smartphones to communicate with all other group members and to respond to emergency situations with individualized action checklists, alert others about dangerous situations, view building maps, obtain emergency contact information, review attendance rosters and locate threatened group members with GPS technology.
HIPAAtrek:
Home
St. Louis, Mo.
HIPAAtrek’s cloud-based software guides healthcare organizations, and companies working with healthcare organizations, through creating, implementing and maintaining a customizable HIPAA compliance program.
Invisible Girlfriend:
https://invisiblegirlfriend.com
https://invisibleboyfriend.com
St. Louis, Mo.
Invisible Girlfriend and Invisible Boyfriend helps those stigmatized for being single by giving them a believable virtual partner who will text with them, leave them voicemails and send them handwritten notes-letting them live their life free from society’s pressure to be in a relationship.
Jobsite Unite:
https://www.jobsiteunite.com
St. Louis, Mo.
Jobsite Unite is a mobile-first app that helps simplify, streamline, and record critical jobsite communication for residential and commercial construction projects.
Listo:
http://www.listo-movieapp.com
St. Louis, Mo.
Listo is an app that is revolutionizing the global entertainment industry by allowing people to watch movies and TV shows in their preferred language, anywhere in the world.
Million Dollar Scholar:
Home – Million Dollar Scholar
New Orleans, La.
Million Dollar Scholar is an ed-tech venture that helps parents and schools teach their students to gain financial aid opportunities to pay for college.
Scoville & Company:
http://www.scovilleco.com
St. Louis, Mo.
Scoville & Co makes medicine manageable by bringing hospital solutions into the home.
SmashToast:
HOME
Springfield, Ill.
SmashToast develops technology to connect the home to your smartphone.