StartupCity will be located on the fifth floor of downtown Des Moines’ Bank of America Building. Screenshot from Google Maps. Graphics by Danny Schreiber.
The region’s newest technology startup incubator is officially a go thanks to a 3-2 vote this morning by the Polk County Board of Supervisors to provide the final piece of financing. Polk County, which twice delayed the vote in recent weeks, is the fifth funding entity to back StartupCity Des Moines. They join the City of Des Moines, the Corporation for Economic Development, Iowa Department of Economic Development and the Greater Des Moines Partnership, each of which offered financing in the form of loans, according to StartupCity principal Christian Renaud via text message this morning.
StartupCity was conceived by two veteran entrepreneurs, Tej Dhawan and Renaud, to fill a gap in the process of turning ideas into companies. The incubator will provide office space, mentorship and other resources to technology startups that fit its mold. In return, a startup will contribute three percent of its stock to StartupCity.
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Based on statements from Dhawan when he was a guest on PrairieCast on Sept. 29, StartupCity should be open its doors in the immediate future. “The moment [Polk County financing] happens, we know that we can commit to the leases and all other purchases that we need to do,” Dhawan said. “Then the startups that have been waiting for us, some very patiently, for the last eight or nine months, they can all step in and start producing with us.”
StartupCity will host 10-15 startups in year one and, according to an earlier comment by Renaud, is on track to host as many as 30 in year three. On PrairieCast, Dwahan said those first-year companies were chosen from a group of more than 60 applicants, the majority of which are within a 50 mile radius of Des Moines with some some having come from as far as New York City.
Though the incubator’s location has not been announced officially, both Dhawan and Renaud have checked in publicly to a StartupCity Des Moines venue on Foursquare (left), with a listed address of 317 6th Ave., Suite 800 in downtown Des Moines (also known locally as the Bank of America Building).
For more on StartupCity Des Moines see our post: “PrairieCast with Tej Dhawan of StartupCity & Startup Weekend ticket giveaway (Video)“.
Disclosure: Geoff Wood is the co-founder of Startup Foundation Des Moines, a non-profit organization that Dhawan and Renaud have advised. Learn more about that in Wood’s post on Startup Foundation.
Update 12:49 p.m. – The post originally indicated Startup City was on the eighth floor and we’ve now learned it’s on the fifth floor. The post has been updated to reflect the change.
