Officials gather for ribbon cutting for Ally Co (September 26, 2022)
Elected officials and local organizations helped cut the ribbon on a new venture studio focused on community in Jamestown Monday night.
Ally Co Co-founder Katie Castro said the concept of a venture studio is new to Western New York, “And what a venture studio does, essentially, is it starts start-ups. So we’ve all heard of venture capital firms. The difference here is sweat-equity versus liquid capital. And so our company is starting start-ups and we’re also coming alongside existing organizations to be their innovation change management help.”
Castro said Ally Co will help businesses or non-profits incubate an idea through the process of launching it, “And we do that for a little equity, it’s a sweat for equity model. But our process would help yield best results. In fact, so, start-up studios or venture studios have been found to have seven times better results than a traditional start-up that starts on their own.”
The multi-cultural company currently has seven employees, with half of them being bilingual. Castro said the company primarily operates online with in-person events and retreats available.
Ally Co services include product and program development, marketing, financial management, and corporate social justice.
She added that 15% of Ally Co’s profit will be invested in a fund at the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation to benefit non-profit innovation.
Ally Co can be reached online at allyco.org.
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