GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - Entrepreneur and ArtPrize founder, Rick DeVos cut the ribbon Thursday on space for his latest venture: Start Garden. Joining him with the scissors was Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell, who called the small business funding venture the "best thing to happen to Grand Rapids since ArtPrize."
Start Garden has been operating since the spring. Funded by the DeVos family, it gives start-up grants to people with new business ideas. If the ideas work and grow, they get more funding.
DeVos said he hopes Start Garden will "create an ecosystem to unlock the social and intellectual capital of this community... by helping lots of of small ideas, we'll find a few that will change our landscape."
Start Garden has already funded 45 ventures this year. The organization's clubhouse is at 50 Louis NW, near Ionia Ave.