Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance

Keep Virginia's Next Great Business Growing Here 

Early-stage ventures don't usually fail for lack of ambition. They stall in the gap between a promising idea and a fundable business: that expensive, uncertain stretch where you need time and resources to prove the concept before anyone will write a check. RBIA's RAMP Scholarship Fund helps Virginia technology founders get through that stretch.

About RBIA

The Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance (RBIA) has been the region's front door for technology innovators, founders, and funders since 2013. As a catalyst for growing the Roanoke-Blacksburg innovation economy, RBIA connects startups and established companies alike with the resources, networks, and expertise they need to grow and thrive right here. From securing over $54.9 million in state and federal grants to supporting more than 3,200 regional patents, RBIA works across government, academia, and the private sector to build a region where bold ideas become real businesses. Through  the Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council (RBTC), the Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program (RAMP), and Common Wealth Angels, RBIA supports founders, innovators, and the technology community at every stage of the journey.

RAMP, the Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program, is RBIA's flagship entrepreneurial program and one of the most important tools we have for growing and keeping Virginia's most promising technology ventures in our region.

What your gift does

The RAMP Scholarship Fund gives cohort participants a financial runway to do that validation work without giving up equity to do it. Open to ventures across Virginia, from tech startups to biotech to agtech and beyond, RAMP is built around the resources founders need most at this stage of their growth.

Your gift to the RAMP Scholarship Fund helps make possible:

• Nondilutive funding that lets founders validate their market without trading away equity
• 1:1 mentorship from experienced business, financial, and industry leaders in the region
• 12 weeks of intensive curriculum designed to prepare ventures for seed funding
• Access to investors and a network that extends well beyond the program
• Years of continued support after the cohort ends

Since 2017, RAMP has accelerated 71 technology companies. Your gift helps make sure the next cohort has the runway to join them.

Why this giving day

Healthy communities invest in their own future. When our neighbors give to the RAMP Scholarship Fund, they're putting resources behind the founders who are already doing the hard work of building something new here. Since 2017, RAMP alumni have created over 950 jobs and raised more than $50 million in capital through grants, investments, and loans — real, lasting economic impact that ripples across the entire region.

The businesses that come through RAMP hire locally, spend locally, and mentor the next generation of founders who'll do the same. Every cohort strengthens the ecosystem that makes this region a place where ambition doesn't have to go elsewhere to thrive.

Your contribution goes directly into the scholarship pool for our next cohort. With 80% of RAMP companies still active today, this is a fund with a proven track record of supporting founders who are committed to building here for the long term.

Learn more

Our dedicated team is passionate about our innovation ecosystem, nurturing big ideas and big projects that put the Roanoke-Blacksburg region on the innovation map.

For additional information about RBIA and RAMP, please visit: https://rbia.tech/who-we-are/