MORTAR raising fund to invest in neighborhood entrepreneurs

Mortar kicked off its Iron Chest Fund with a #100for100 campaign on Tuesday, seeking 100 individuals to donate between $100 and $1,000. The fund has already been pledged a $50,000 matching grant from Signature Hardware president Matt Butler. The goal, Iron Chest Fund managing director Derrick Braziel told me, is to raise $100,000, but he'd like to see that get up to $300,000. "Access to capital is a big barrier to a lot of entrepreneurs we're trying to serve in Cincinnati, and we want to have a role in trying to help them," he said.