(Photo of the Venture Hive's living room by The Miami Herald's Peter Andrew Bosch)
By Nancy Dahlberg, ndahlberg@miamiherald.com
Venture Hive, a new entrepreneurial hub in downtown Miami that hosts the Launch Pad Tech accelerator, will soon be housing an incubator.
Susan Amat, Venture Hive’s founder, said the team will begin taking applications now for 15 to 20 startup teams to join in May.
“The Venture Hive Incubator will cater to the scores of companies in South Florida that need affordable office space, access to experienced entrepreneur support services, and to be part of a dense community of technologists with cool startups. This is not a co-working space — it’s for only startups, all the time,” said Amat, speaking by phone last week from Harvard University, where she was participating in the International Women’s Forum leadership training.
Incubator companies that become members of the Venture Hive will have access to programming, mentoring and services, in addition to having 24/7 access to the Hive and mixing with the other resident startups — the 10 companies in the Launch Pad Tech accelerator and the 25 companies in the Launch Pad Tech community program.
Venture Hive, at 1010 NE 2nd Ave., is a 35,000-square-foot space, but less than half is in use right now. Inside the modern space is a large “living room,” with a wall sized mural of the skyline and several tables and seating areas for working and for community events. There are also private offices for the accelerator companies, and another large area made up of office nooks and shared space for the community program members and the new incubator. The space also has several conference rooms, a Skype room, “quiet rooms” for working privately and a kitchen. There’s plenty of space to grow into as the programs expand, Amat said.
As part of the public-private sector partnership with Miami-Dade County and the Miami Downtown Development Authority, Miami Worldcenter is contributing office space to Venture Hive, which is already housing 35 entrepreneur teams and is in the process bringing more than 70 new-to-market jobs in Downtown Miami, said Nitin Motwani, principal and managing director of Miami Worldcenter, which owns the building. The Launch Pad Tech program is being fueled by $1 million in funds from Miami-Dade County over the next four years and another $460,000 in funding from the Miami DDA in 2013 and 2014.
Companies can apply now for the Venture Hive Incubator at www.venturehive.co to move in after May 1. Each company will be charged a membership fee, starting at $250 a month, customized to the team’s requirements.
“We are looking for awesome people with big ideas who will add value to our culture,” said Amat. “We are seeking teams who want to scale great tech concepts. We will select companies where we know our involvement will be a transformative opportunity for their success and where we are confident it will be a good cultural fit.”
(Photos above shows Danny Karbassiyoon of SWOL, one of the entrepreneurs in the Launch Pad Tech Accelerator, and Valerie Schimel of Munchkin Fun, who is in the Community Program. Photos are by Peter Andrew Bosch.)
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/10/3276033/the-buzz-at-venture-hive-new-incubator.html#storylink=cpy