Blackstone Charitable Foundation's Blackstone LaunchPad — a program available to 500,000 students worldwide to encourage startups — is adding a network of entrepreneur-mentors to the program.
The foundation was formed at the time of the alternative investment firm's 2007 initial public offering and was funded by The Blackstone Group LP's employees to foster entrepreneurship. LaunchPad is a part of the foundation's entrepreneurship initiative.
Blackstone LaunchPad's participants now will have access to the resources of Techstars, a worldwide network of entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders and corporations designed to support entrepreneurs starting companies.
"Helping entrepreneurs in the early stages of their careers has been a natural extension of Blackstone's work — launching businesses and helping them grow," said Stephen A. Schwarzman, New York-based chairman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone. "I could not be more pleased that Blackstone Charitable Foundation and Techstars are partnering to turbocharge the networks and access of LaunchPad's student entrepreneurs on their path to success."