Contacts:
Jeane’ Holley, Communications Specialist, Cuyahoga County – 216.640.0521
Amy Martin, Marketing Principal, JumpStart – 216.363.5448 

NCO Fund Helps Cuyahoga County Startups Complete Projects & Achieve Specific Milestones

Cleveland, OH – Cuyahoga County’s North Coast Opportunities (NCO) Technology Fund announced a $95,000 low interest loan to Everykey, Inc., a Cleveland-based startup making national headlines for their flagship product, a wristband that manages all of the wearer’s electronic passwords.

“Not only does Everykey have a great idea, they have a great team, great mentors and a great plan,” said Nathan Kelly, Interim Director, Cuyahoga County Department of Development. “The NCO fund is designed to help these kinds of young high-tech ventures complete specific, measurable projects so they can grow and hire aggressively in Cuyahoga County.”

Launched in 2008, the NCO Fund focuses on early stage, high growth technology companies that are well positioned for future capital investment. Companies must be located in or planning to move to Cuyahoga County. To date, the NCO fund has loaned a total of $3.6 million in loans to 38 companies. In turn, these companies have raised nearly $50 million in additional follow-on funding, while generating more than $18 million in revenue and creating or retaining more than 140 jobs.

The fund reviews applications in multiple rounds throughout the year. The next application deadline is November 16, 2015. All applicants must first be engaged with the Northeast Ohio ESP Network, a collaborative group of 15 incubators, accelerators, investors, research foundations and education programs (including JumpStart) all of whom are partially funded by the Ohio Third Frontier's Entrepreneurial Signature Program (ESP).

Founded in 2013 by Case Western Reserve University student Chris Wentz, Everykey, Inc., has raised over $117,000 on Kickstarter while taking the top spot at both the Magnet 2014 ProtoTech pitch competition and the University of Akron’s 2014 LaunchTown Entrepreneurship Awards.

According to Wentz, the low-interest loan from the NCO fund will help Everykey, Inc., make their products compatible with Apple hardware and software.

“Our product aims to replace all of your electronic keys and passwords,” said Wentz. “In order to achieve our long-term goals, our software must work across all major operating systems and web browsers, including those developed by Apple. This funding will help us achieve that compatibility; it is a major step forward for Everykey.”


NORTH COAST OPPORTUNITY TECHNOLOGY FUND is a Cuyahoga County initiative providing low interest loans to help high-potential Cuyahoga County technology companies. To date, the NCO fund has loaned a total of $3.6 million in loans to 38 companies. For more information, visit North Coast Opportunities (NCO) Technology Fund.

JUMPSTART INC. is committed to strengthening the economy through entrepreneurship. The nonprofit has been accelerating the successes of diverse entrepreneurs, their high growth companies and the ecosystems that support them since 2004. For more information, visit www.jumpstartinc.org and follow @JumpStartInc on Twitter.

EVERYKEY is a Cleveland-based startup that has created an innovative universal access device for anything that requires a physical key or password. For more information, visit www.everykey.com.