Cleveland Startups Add Millions to Ohio Economy
CLEVELAND -- A recently released study shows that startups in Greater Cleveland have contributed significantly to Ohio's economy, contributions that increase as the tech companies mature. In 2012, 127 young companies collectively generated $270 million in economic benefits for Ohio, $211 million of that figure for northeastern Ohio, the report states.
The 127 companies in the annual report from The Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs helped create and retain 1,100 in-state direct jobs, sustaining 2,140 jobs in all. These same young firms and their suppliers increased Ohio household earnings by $125 million and generated nearly $12 million in state and local taxes, the Levin College says.
The report looks at the economic contributions of growing tech-based businesses that successfully leveraged business assistance and/or seed capital from nonprofit JumpStart Inc. or its partner organization, North Coast Angel Fund. The document includes only those who responded to the survey, reported some Ohio employment, payroll and/or expenditures in 2012 and certified their responses.
"When JumpStart and many of our accelerator, incubator, seed and early-stage investing partners in the region start working with an entrepreneur, his or her company is often pre-revenue and the venture may only have one employee -- the founder," said Mark Williams, JumpStart board chairman, in a prepared statement. "And yet, in the last three years, these young client companies -- which by no means represent all of the tech-based entrepreneurial activity in the region -- already have had a cumulative impact of $688 million on Ohio."
Further analysis of 44 entrepreneurial firms that each year participated in the study in 2010, 2011 and 2012 suggests that as these companies matured, so did their economic contributions. Collectively they paid 23% more in state and local taxes. Their output rose by 37% and in-state employment by 53%.
To read the 2012 Economic Impact of JumpStart Inc. Portfolio and Client Companies report, visit this website.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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