Startup America Win $400M In Commitments

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- Large companies including Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), American Express (AXP), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and others have agree to commit $400 million in resources supporting the Startup America Partnership -- President Barack Obama's plan to promote "high growth" entrepreneurship in the U.S. through private-sector investment.

Fifteen companies and organizations agreed to offer resources and discounts on product pricing and to hold events helping entrepreneurs start or expand companies -- joining roughly 20 companies and organizations, including Intel (INTC) and IBM (IBM), according to a Wednesday press release.

President Barack Obama's plan to promote "high growth" entrepreneurship won the support of 15 more big companies Wednesday.

The Startup America program was launched in January as part of the Obama administration's focus on small-business job growth.

In the coming weeks the program will be rolling out a free membership program to allow young companies in "startup," "rampup" and "speedup" phases to apply for access to the resources and expand their business.

"We're gratified by the response we've seen from the private sector since launching the Startup America Partnership less than 90 days ago," said Steve Case, co-founder of AOL (AOL ) and the program's chairman. "Today's announcement of new commitments highlights the progress we're making to provide entrepreneurs with resources to grow and scale. We're grateful for the companies that have stepped up to help celebrate and accelerate entrepreneurs and we look forward to adding additional partners in the near future."

American Express OPEN , the card and travel services company's small-business unit, is making the largest investment -- $125 million worth -- by providing access and special pricing for a suite of products and services to help small firms attract and retain customers and improve cash flow.

Google agreed to commit $100 million worth to companies in the program to enable them to advertise via the search engine over the next year.

Cisco (CSCO) plans to fund training to approximately 6,000 entrepreneurs by January 2014. Cisco's support is valued at more than $3 million.

Intuit (INTU), First Data, H-P, Ernst & Young, IndieGoGo, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Salesforce.com (CRM) and Silicon Valley Bank also plan to offer programs, products and services to entrepreneurs in the program.

For information, go to startupamericapartnership.org.

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