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Updated: September 8, 2025 From the Editor

Editor's note: Don’t count out Maine’s small businesses

By Peter Van Allen

As pointed out in the introduction to the Startups/Entrepreneurship focus section, Maine has 160,215 small businesses, which is 99.2% of all Maine businesses.

The small-but-mighty businesses, with 290,518 employees, make up 54.5% of Maine’s total workforce.

Nothing to sneeze at, but there is something to snack about.

Maine snack food makers are just a few of the entrepreneurs contributing to the state’s small-business makeup, as Deputy Editor Renee Cordes illustrates. Gen Z buyers are snacking at a greater rate than previous generations — and Maine companies like Singing Pastures, Harvest Maine and Maine Crisp are jumping into the market. See Renee’s cover story, “Maine snack attack."

Startup growth is increasingly being driven by collaborations with higher ed, as Senior Writer Laurie Schreiber reports. One such collaboration is between the University of Southern Maine and the New England Ocean Cluster. See Laurie’s story, “More startup incubators start up."

North Spore, a Cumberland-based mushroom cultivation business, tops the list of largest Maine Technology Institute investments.  

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