Norwalk Company Receives $400K in Grants and Loans

A Norwalk-based company will be receiving $400,000 in grants and loans from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Gov. Dannel Malloy announced July 18.

Akademoc, Inc., an online bookseller, will work to expand and hire seven more employees with the money, according to a press release.

Malloy said supporting small businesses is necessary for economic success.

“Supporting companies like Akademos is an important part of our overall strategy to grow jobs and accelerate our economy,” Malloy said in a released statement. “Small businesses make up well over 90 percent of Connecticut employers, so ensuring they are able to compete in a global marketplace is critical. Partnerships between state government and the private sector allow businesses and industry to grow, and most importantly, hire more staff.”

Akademos provides its services to students and faculty at hundreds of educational institutions nationwide, according to the release.

DECD will be granting $100,000 to the company, as well as a 10-year $300,000 loan at 2 percent interest to help the company build more services to lower the cost of textbooks, according to the release.

Akademos has already created the Textbook Adoption Tool, which allows faculty to choose textbooks based on quality, price and reviews, as well as TextbookX, which helps students find the lowest priced textbooks, according to the release.

John Squires, chief executive officer of Akademos, said the money means the company can create more programs to better serve students and faculty.

“This funding will allow us to expand faculty awareness and student access to lower-cost educational materials as well as enable us to continue to develop and introduce new textbook delivery options,” Squires said in a released statement.

DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith said she sees supporting Akademos as an important step in creating more jobs.

“This kind of support is essential because helping small and midsized businesses grow will be the key to turning around the state’s decades-long lackluster performance in job creation," Smith said in a released statement.