Your MCE Summer Happenings Have Landed!

Summer is off to a strong start at MCE! We’re thrilled to have officially kicked off our new pilot SmartLaunch CPG cohort, thanks to the generous support of FocusMaine. We’ve welcomed our new summer intern, Lulu Linkas, and have been fortunate to collaborate once again with the New England Ocean Cluster on a summer practicum experience matching University of Southern Maine law students with legal challenges and questions to hone their research abilities and skills tackling “real world” legal issues.

Other highlights so far this summer include collaborating with the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center and other partners at our June 8th “Shell-ebration” event at the Downeast Institute to promote the aquaculture industry, and being honored by FocusMaine with their “Secret Sauce” award at their partners appreciation event. Thanks to support from USM, this month we launched our forth Visionary Leadership Program with eleven Maine business leaders who join the list of 40 leaders who have already been through this impactful program.

Looking ahead, stay tuned for fall programming including a Maine Algal Innovation event with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science, Gulf of Maine Research Institute and partners and Food Accelerator workshop registrations – coming soon!

Warmly,
Tom Rainey
Executive Director, Maine Center for Entrepreneurs

Please help us give a warm welcome to our summer intern, Louisa “Lulu” Linkas! A rising senior at Bowdoin College studying Earth and Oceanographic Science and Computer Science, Lulu joins MCE as our Data & Program Intern.

LuLu brings a strong foundation in environmental data science and science communication—experience she’s applied to climate resilience work from the North Atlantic Subpolar region to the Maine coast. This summer, Lulu is diving into projects across the Blue Economy, market and sales data analysis, and more—supporting entrepreneurship in Maine through data visualization, workflow automation, and strategic insight. She’s working with tools like Nielsen and SPINS Satori to help tell Maine’s entrepreneurial story through data.

Maine Center for Entrepreneurs Launches SmartLaunch Program to Guide Food & Beverage Innovators into Market-Ready Success

Announces Inaugural Cohort of Emerging CPG Brands

PORTLAND, Maine – The Maine Center for Entrepreneurs (MCE) is proud to announce the launch of its newest initiative in partnership with FocusMaine:

Food Accelerators - Save the Date!

Crack the Code to Distribution Success | September 23, 2025

We’re hosting a panel discussion featuring representatives from three leading local and regional distributors—Native Maine, Rainforest Distribution, and John Nagle Co., at the International Marine Terminal, hosted by the Maine Port Authority. The panel will explore best practices in product distribution, offering practical guidance tailored to market dynamics, product types, and channel strategies. The event will also include a tour of the Maine International Cold Storage Facility, providing a behind-the-scenes look at essential logistics infrastructure and familiarizing suppliers and regional distributors with their capacities.

Thanks for a Great Shell-ebration!

On June 8, Executive Director Tom Rainey and Seafood & Aquaculture Specialist Emily Lane joined over 100 participants at the Shell-ebration hosted at Downeast Institute in Beals, Maine. Co-hosted by MCE in partnership with the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, and DEI—with support from partners including Sunrise County Economic Council and Maine Aquaculture Association—the event highlighted emerging opportunities in shellfish aquaculture in Washington County. Attendees enjoyed hands-on gear demos and species sessions on scallops, urchins, clams, mussels, and oysters, thanks to experts from UMaine, DEI, and Maine Sea Grant.

USM Law Students Join NEOC and MCE to Support Maine Entrepreneurs

We'd like to introduce you to two law student interns from the University of Maine School of Law, Maddy Myke and Henry Gates, who will be supporting MCE client companies this summer—right from their desks at NEOC. This opportunity is made possible through a collaboration with the New England Ocean Cluster and the University of Southern Maine’s Office of Commercialization.

The goal of this internship program is to provide foundational legal research support to under-resourced startups and small businesses in Maine during critical moments of formation and growth. We're proud to support this hands-on experience at the intersection of innovation, law, and economic development.

We were honored to be recognized by FocusMaine at their recent Appreciation Night with the Secret Sauce Award—a celebration of MCE’s role as a key ingredient in Maine’s recipe for food business success. The award reflects the collective work of our team, partners, and entrepreneurs across the state. Thank you to FocusMaine President and Co-Founder Andrea Cianchette Maker and the entire FocusMaine team for your leadership and continued support of Maine’s food economy. (Pictured: MCE Executive Director Tom Rainey with Andrea Cianchette Maker)