Omaha 100, the North Omaha-based Community Development Financial Institution, has launched a partnership with Bootup Studios to offer free artificial intelligence tools to local businesses. The application process is open until noon on June 12, with 100 spots available in the first year of the two-year pilot.

“We just want to be able to help people move faster and more efficiently,” said Chandler Malone, the co-founder and CEO of Bootup Studios, a Miami-based startup. “The thought process is that if we can leverage AI to help (businesses), then they have a higher chance of being able to build something that works.”

For Omaha 100, working with Bootup is part of a new investment in entrepreneurship support under CEO Trevon Brooks. Piloting this initiative with Bootup is also a way to make sure that AI adoption is equitable in the Midwest.

“For years, Omaha 100 has helped entrepreneurs access loans, technical assistance, and business support. AI is the next frontier,” Brooks said in an emailed statement. 

“We want North Omaha entrepreneurs to have the same tools available to businesses in larger markets so they can compete, grow, and create jobs,” he said. “We’re helping ensure our community is not left behind in the AI economy.”

Applicants will hear back on June 26 whether they were accepted into the cohort. Businesses will get a one-year license to Bootup Studios, which normally costs $300 annually or $50 a month.

Bootup offers AI agents that entrepreneurs can consult with on business problems. With a connection to back-end software such as email and customer relationship management (CRM) tools, the agents can also do tasks on behalf of the business. 

There is also a lead generation tool where AI will help find the ideal customer for a business and search the internet for those customers and their contact information.

“You come to the platform — you can have a pre-existing business that you’re running, you can have an idea for a business — you have the opportunity to share that with us,” Malone said. “We will then help you go find a business model … then give you actual daily guidance and steps that you should take to get to revenue.”

The Bootup platform has a resources hub that aggregates programs that support small businesses. The hub includes opportunities to apply for funding, free cloud hosting and AI credits from companies like OpenAI, Google and Amazon. 

“As you go from being a one-person, two-person business to being a 10-20 person business, we built the technology in a way that it can grow with you,” Malone said.

While the platform runs on Anthropic’s Claude AI, users can also plug their preferred AI tools into Bootup Studios. Malone sees Bootup as a platform for all kinds of businesses, from landscapers trying to improve their customer acquisition and invoicing to software startups building tech products.

“You don’t have to be a techie person, you don’t have to be an AI native,” Malone said. “Basically, the way that we’ve designed the tools, you’ve just got to be able to click buttons and type in what you want to do.”