Embarc Collective Becomes Florida’s Fastest-Growing Startup Hub

Republished By Plato

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After Rocketing to 100 Members

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Embarc Collective, the startup hub which helps founders in Florida build bold, thriving, scalable companies, today announced that it is now home to 100 member startups, making it the fastest-growing startup hub in the state of Florida.

Since launching in March of 2019, Embarc Collective has grown rapidly. Beginning with just 25 member companies working virtually in its first phase, the organization quickly expanded to 49 members after launching its 32,000 square-foot space in downtown Tampa in January 2020. Despite the global pandemic, Embarc Collective has doubled its membership. Now, Embarc Collective’s 100 member companies have added a total of 234 team members and raised a total of $107M in venture capital since 2019.

“The vision of Embarc Collective is to co-locate startups within a state-of-the-art facility and with access to top-rated individualized support to accelerate the rate of growth of our tech community,” said Lakshmi Shenoy, CEO of Embarc Collective. “Reaching this tremendous milestone, sooner than we had projected, demonstrates that Embarc Collective is officially a premier destination for tech entrepreneurs in Florida, and one of the most effective support models for startups looking to truly take their companies to the next level.”

Embarc Collective’s members celebrated several milestones of their own this year.

Ideal Agent, a real estate technology platform, became the organization’s first alumnus in April and grew a staff of almost 100 since first joining the startup hub.
BlockSpaces, an integration platform that connects business applications to blockchains, became the first woman co-founded and led blockchain startup in Florida to raise over $1 million in venture capital funding.
Pocket, a platform for developers working with blockchain to connect any app with a single line of code, is on track to generate over $13M in annualized revenue for users of the platform.
TrustLayer, an AI-powered collaborative risk management solution working to digitize insurance verification closed a $15.1 million Series A round led by Craft Ventures.

The stock-investing startup Grifin has been a member at Embarc Collective since its inception, and has been making waves in the personal investment industry ever since. In that time, they’ve seen Embarc Collective grow from a few members to a bustling ecosystem of startups.

“Embarc Collective is a family of just genuinely good human beings that are not only incredibly smart, but are working together to make the world a better place,” said Aaron Froug, co-founder and CEO of Grifin. “Embarc is a meaningful and positive addition to Tampa Bay and the Startup Ecosystem in general. The team at Embarc have built a repeatable process that should be represented around the country. I’d recommend it for any startup. Embarc creates an environment that facilitates growth, well-being, inclusivity, and belonging.”

In addition to local startups, Embarc Collective is seeing a surge in interest from transplants who relocated to Florida amid the shift to pandemic-era remote work, including JetBridge and TrustLayer. Both moved from Silicon Valley, the startup capital of the world. Attracted by the centralized community and strong support Embarc Collective offers, including burnout prevention coaching, a venture capital database, an in-house talent acquisition specialist, and a network of over 100 partners across the country, the two companies now use Embarc Collective as their company headquarters.

Tampa Bay as a region continues to attract startups and technology companies, welcoming tech executives like HelloFresh co-founder Daniel Treiman, Wag! co-founder Brendan Rogers, and Fast co-founder Domm Holland. Real estate brokerage CBRE ranked Tampa ahead of all other cities in Florida – including Miami – for new tech job openings last year. In April, the Times of Entrepreneurship named Tampa as the #8 Best City to Start a Business In After the Pandemic.

About Embarc Collective

Embarc Collective is a nonprofit startup hub helping founders in the Tampa Bay region build bold, scalable, thriving companies. Embarc Collective offers hands-on support driven by the unique goals and needs of each member startup. Member companies receive customized, ongoing coaching and support from startup veterans to help propel member companies’ growth.

Embarc Collective works with a growing roster of 100 early-stage startups at its 32,000 square-foot office in downtown Tampa. Its partners include over 100 expertise-focused organizations and 160 early-stage venture firms across the country dedicated to assisting entrepreneurs. In 2020, Embarc Collective delivered 1,300 hours of one-on-one coaching to its members as well as 65 group learning sessions.

For more information, please visit www.embarccollective.com

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