Category: Startup accelerator/coworking space
Towson University's StarTUp at The Armory has already seen some notable success stories in its first three years and is now adding a winter cohort to help kick-start more ventures.
Some of the accelerator's companies that have found success include “Waze for bars” startup Let’s Tap In, which recently won a national pitch competition, and Sparen, a company that hopes to take the Realtor out of real estate and is preparing for a spring product launch.
StarTUp at The Armory founder Patrick McQuown is planning to build on the accelerator’s achievements and add new routes to support more local startups.
The accelerator started in 2020 as a fully virtual program and its early success led the Baltimore County government to double the budget for StarTUp to enable the addition of a summer and winter cohort. The program now gives 14 companies $10,000 each year thanks to the budget increase.
The institution has a permanent home in downtown Towson after the university purchased the former National Guard Armory in March for $8.6 million. The armory connects the university and StarTUp portfolio companies to the wider area by also serving as a public coworking space.
McQuown is an experienced entrepreneur who can draw off his own experiences when working with local companies. He is a two-time entrepreneur, who sold his first company to SoftBank and raised $50 million with a second company before it too was sold.
StarTUp consists mostly of non-student companies like Sparen, mixed with a couple of standout student ventures like Let’s Tap In or iced tea company EriTea.
McQuowon is looking for companies that are just starting to enter the market with new products. StarTUp companies have raised a total of $7 million in venture capital and $3 million in non-diluted funding. He is also planning to launch a StarTUp venture fund, the Tiger Fund, to fuel more investment in local companies.
"Since we get a look at these companies for eight weeks, we can do better due diligence than any VC," McQuowon said.
The way Towson University has fostered student entrepreneurship is easier for smaller schools that don't have the faculty research volume of a place like Johns Hopkins University. The model has started to garner national attention, with StarTUp receiving the top prize at the University Economic Development Association (UEDA) Summit, beating out much larger schools like the University of Arizona and the University of Kentucky.
To see the rest of the 2023 Fire Awards honorees, click here.
