TechTown scores $800K grant from Kresge Foundation

More money is starting to pour into Detroit's TechTown small business accelerator. This time it's The Kresge Foundation pledging $800,000 to make room for TechTown's rapidly expanding base of start-ups.

The funding will be used to renovate the old Dagleish auto dealership, across Cass Avenue from the original TechOne small business incubator, into the new TechTwo incubator, which will provide office space and services for hundreds of new companies.

This latest expansion effort is part of the New Economy Initiative's (primarily sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation) plans to reinvigorate Michigan's entrepreneurial economy by creating 400-500 start-ups in TechTown and 1,200 across Metro Detroit. When the initiative was announced last year there were 60 start-ups in TechOne, which had plenty of space ready to be built out. Today there are 201 early-stage ventures and a waiting list for space in TechTwo.

"I'd like to add at least another 100 by the end of the year," says Randal Charlton, executive director of TechTown. "But our ability to do that hinges on us building out more space."

TechTown, with $9.25 million in grant money, is partnering with the New Economy Initiative and the Kauffman Foundation as well as the expertise, staff, materials and the FastTrac and Urban Entrepreneurship Partnership programs from those organizations. This latest grant puts the total investment in the eight-figure range and more could be on the way soon.

"I certainly hope so and I certainly expect to (receive more grants)," Charlton says. "I also expect these generous foundations to hold us to account."

Source: Randal Charlton, executive director of TechTown
Writer: Jon Zemke

TechTown scores $800K grant from Kresge Foundation

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