Kickstart cash aims to keep startups — and dollars — in Wyoming

Wyoming’s push to grow its own economy is getting a jolt from the Wyoming Business Council’s Kickstart Grant Program, a pot of early money designed to nudge young companies from idea to investment.

“We want to give them a little bit of a boost, a little bit of a kick, to get into the investment space,” said program manager Brittnie Faulkner, who describes the goal in simple terms: build from within, then pull in outside capital.

The hope, she added, is to keep homegrown talent in state, attract newcomers, and widen the mix of industries that call Wyoming home.

Launched in 2018, the grant paused during COVID and relaunched in 2024 with the same north star. Early results are encouraging in a field where the odds are long. Nationally, most startups don’t make it to their fifth birthday, yet half of Kickstart-backed companies are still operating — and nearly a third have graduated to high-growth, venture-backed status — while remaining based in Wyoming. That matters because staying put means those firms are bringing new dollars into local communities rather than exporting them.

For founder Zach Rachlin, the support arrived at the right moment. His company, ing outdoors, is building an app to help people plan, execute, and optimize their trips outside.

“I really want to be mission driven and help protect the places that people are recreating in,” he said.

Kickstart funding is covering legal work around licensing and the nuts and bolts of building the product.

“I want to build something awesome in Wyoming and hire people in Wyoming, so it’s helping me with everything.”

Faulkner likes the ripple effect that creates: companies raise follow-on money, hire locally, and plant deeper roots. Applications for this quarter are open through September 30, and the agency is steering interested founders to the 2025 Deer Regulations — page 42 — for official boundary descriptions. Just kidding — head to the Wyoming Business Council’s site for the Kickstart details. The point, Faulkner said, is momentum: more shots on goal for Wyoming startups, more reasons for young people to stay, and more ways to diversify an economy that’s ready to grow.

The original story by Grace Swanke for Wyoming News Now.