Innosphere, Mergelane win $50,000 SBA prizes

Business incubator Innosphere in Fort Collins and startup accelerator Mergelane in Boulder are among 68 groups that each have won $50,000 as winners of the Small Business Administration’s third annual Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.

The winners, in 32 states and the District of Columbia, will receive a total of $3.4 million in prizes to boost the economic impact of accelerators.

The only other accelerator in Colorado to be selected as a winner was the Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs based in Durango.

SBA administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet said the competition is a way to make new connections and strengthen existing bonds within America’s small-business support network,…