NEW HAVEN – Despite often being criticized by business owners, who say Connecticut is not at all business friendly, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy visited the state’s fastest-growing software companies on Thursday to paint a very different picture.
After touring Square 9 Softworks, in its new 30,000 square-foot, multi-level home on New Haven’s Church Street, Malloy pointed out that a bipartisan jobs bill in 2011 created the State’s Small Business Express Program, which has reached a milestone.
“We are here to announce we have supported 1,500 businesses through the Small Business Express Program,” said Malloy.
The state has awarded more than $232 million through the program, which provides small businesses with access to capital, job training, and encourages private investment and hiring. Malloy said it is responsible for the creation or retention of over 22,000 jobs over five years.
“By allowing us not to have to spend our working capital on building out a new facility, we were able to invest in new jobs,” said Stephen Young, president and CEO of Square 9.
Adding research and development jobs resulted in more business, including a partnership with Konica Minolta.
“We’ve done an integration with their hardware where you can actually begin your business process from a touch panel of a copier,” Young said.
Over the past year, Square 9 has received approximately $650,000 through the Small Business Express Program, but this is not free money.
“Over $550,000 is a loan. And it’s a loan that’s paid back to the state, with interest,” said Young.
The other $100,000 came to the company through a matching grant, which requires certain parameters, including employee numbers, are met within a certain time frame to avoid having to pay that $100,000 back.
“We’ve got room for about 125 (employees) here, ” said Young. “And we actually, believe it or not, have concerns over that over the next three to four years.”
Meaning, Square 9 may have to go back to square one in designing an even larger work space in the near future.
