Two businesses in Northeast Wisconsin received $5,000 equity injections as part of the U.S. Bank Journey to Growth program that is a partnership with the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation.
The Journey to Growth program has been funded by U.S. Bank in an effort to help provide training as well as an equity boost to Wisconsin’s small business owners. On March 16, approximately 45 entrepreneurs started an 8-week online accelerator program where U.S. Bank and WWBIC provided intensive training on topics including cashflow, business credit, AI, marketing, financial planning, procurement, as well as one-on-one coaching with U.S. Bank mentors. At the conclusion of the accelerator, participants were invited to submit a video pitch. From those submissions, three winners were selected:
- 3rd place ($2,000) – VitaJug Smoothies, owned by Stephanie Castillo, of Milwaukee
- 2nd place ($3,000) – Raising the Bar Catering, owned by Andrea Dennis, of New Berlin
- 1st place ($5,000) – In the Garden of Eden, owned by Laurel Paschke, of Kenosha
In addition to the accelerator and pitch competition, equity injection recipients are:
- Baeseman Consulting, Marathon
- The Baker’s Connection, Milwaukee
- Dane County Family Acupuncture, Madison
- Driftless Healing, Viroqua
- J.C. Santy Construction, Pulaski
- JKP Properties, Kenosha
- JustVeggiez, Madison
- Nettle Witch Herbs, Madison
- Partners in Grime Fox Cities, Appleton
- Richmond and Associates, Janesville
- Simply Gracen, Ferryville
- Soft Lines, Ashland
- True Skin, LLC, Elm Grove
- Venerations, Herbster
