270 Companies Generated More Than $1.4 Billion in Economic Impact for Ohio in 2015 and Have Created 2,313 Direct Jobs

CLEVELAND, July 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Last year, 270 companies supported by JumpStart Inc. (www.jumpstartinc.org) and its partners in the Northeast Ohio Entrepreneurial Signature Program (ESP) generated more than $1.4 billion in economic impact for the state of Ohio, according to an annual report from The Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs.

This $1.4 billion nearly triples the prior year's $509 million total and brings the five-year total to more than $3 billion in cumulative statewide economic impact (2010-2015). There are multiple reasons for 2015's soaring numbers, according to JumpStart CEO, Ray Leach.

"First, a core group of very successful early-stage companies has continued to experience explosive growth, resulting in large increases across the board," said Leach. "Second, more of the client and portfolio companies we serve responded to our request for information this year, confirming a suspicion we've had for some time that they were generating significantly more impact than we were tracking."

According to the report, the 270 companies who made their information available have also created/retained a cumulative 2,313 direct jobs for the state, while helping to create/retain an additional 2,021 jobs in industries that support their work and another 1,960 throughout the economy due to increased employee earnings, for a grand total of nearly 6,300 jobs created/retained. Household earnings in Ohio also increased by $173 million in 2015 due directly to the payrolls of these companies.

These same companies were associated with more than $138 million in tax revenue in 2015 ($58 million in direct impact, $44 million in indirect impact and $35 million in induced impact), nearly $47 million of which went to state and local taxes.

Overall, 2015 saw a 55 percent increase in the reported number of cumulative direct jobs created/retained compared to 2014, as well as a more than 200 percent increase in supporting jobs and a more than 100 percent increase in jobs throughout the economy due to increased employee earnings. Direct household earnings also increased by more than 60 percent over 2014, while tax-impact numbers jumped by approximately 130 percent.

"As these statistics show, the support we receive from the Ohio Third Frontier and our many other public, private and philanthropic partners provides a strong return-on-investment, allowing the Northeast Ohio ESP network to support the kinds of early-stage ventures that make real economic impact in our state," added Leach.

Other organizations whose client companies were included in the report are: Akron Global Business Accelerator, BioEnterprise, BioHio Research Park, Braintree Business Development Center, Flashstarts, Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE), The Incubator at MAGNET, North Coast Angel Fund (NCAF), Northeast Ohio Medical University, Ohio Aerospace Institute, Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center, Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center (TBEIC), University of Akron Research Foundation and Youngstown Business Incubator.  Some companies have received funding and/or support from more than one organization, however, their impact is only counted once.

Click here to read the entire 2015 report.

JUMPSTART INC. unlocks the full potential of diverse and ambitious entrepreneurs to economically transform entire communities. For more information, visit www.jumpstartinc.org and follow @JumpStartInc on Twitter.

THE NORTHEAST OHIO ESP NETWORK is a collaborative funded in part by the Ohio Third Frontier that includes accelerators, incubators, angel funds and other organizations dedicated to accelerating entrepreneurial successes.

OHIO THIRD FRONTIER is an internationally recognized tech-based economic development initiative that is successfully changing the trajectory of Ohio's economy. The $2.1 billion initiative supports existing industries that are transforming themselves with new, globally competitive products and fostering the formation and attraction of new companies in emerging industry sectors.

SOURCE JumpStart Inc.