Governor Polis and the Business Funding and Incentives (BF&I) division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) announced that Narravity, Inc., an aerospace research and technology company, will expand in Fremont County with support from the Rural Jump-Start program. Narravity’s operations will include assembly, integration and testing to serve both national and international customers.
“Rural Jump-Start helps businesses and creates new good-paying jobs, and strengthens local economies across the state and I’m excited to welcome Narravity to Fremont County. Colorado is a leader in aerospace innovation, and this new business will help grow our thriving aerospace industry and bring more jobs to Fremont county,” said Governor Jared Polis.
Narravity is developing microgravity laboratory infrastructure for commercial research and product development in low Earth orbit. Its platform is designed to support industries such as advanced materials, manufacturing, and biotechnology by creating repeatable, accessible laboratory environments in space.
“Narravity is honored to join Colorado’s Rural Jump-Start Program and to establish an early foundation for our work in Fremont County. We are building a microgravity platform to accelerate experiments in space, allowing companies to test materials, manufacturing processes, and new technologies in space more easily, affordably and frequently than traditional space platforms allow,” said Kei Shimada, CEO of Narravity. “Fremont County offers a strong environment for long-term innovation, and we are excited about growing here in a way that contributes to both Colorado’s aerospace leadership and the local economy.”
Narravity will provide the following research, development, and data analysis services to its customers: experiment integration and interface definition, payload AIT and acceptance test execution, integration support during spacecraft-level integration and mission commissioning, and data products and customer-facing delivery.
The Rural Jump-Start program encourages economic development and job creation in economically distressed, rural counties of Colorado. This funding supports regional economic and workforce development activities that seek to expand local business, create new good-paying jobs, and strengthen and diversify local economies. The company will receive $15,000 in grant funding to support the launch of its operations, as well as four years of tax benefits through the Rural Jump-Start program. Eligible employees will also receive a state personal income tax credit while the company is in the program.
“We are thrilled to support Narravity’s growth in Fremont County. This move will help support Colorado’s strong aerospace ecosystem, which is home to over 2,000 aerospace and defense companies. The Rural Jump-Start program continues to be a vital tool to support regional economic diversification, create new jobs, and strengthen communities across our state,” said Eve Lieberman, OEDIT Executive Director.
Sponsoring entities like Fremont Economic Development Corporation help identify business candidates in their communities and work with each business to help ensure its success in the program and in the community.
“This is an exciting step for Fremont County. The Rural Jump-Start program allows us to support Narravity’s growth here, bringing good-paying jobs and positioning our community as part of cutting-edge work in microgravity research and space-based innovation,” said Rob Brown, Executive Director of Fremont Economic Development Corporation.
To learn more about the Rural Jump-Start program, please contact Quina Weber-Shirk at quina.webershirk@state.co.us.