After expanding beyond Boston into New York City and Chicago, the Startup Institute is ready to cross international waters. The career accelerator announced Tuesday it is expanding into London and Berlin — and with some brag-worthy baggage, including a recent award and new $1.3 million in funding.
The Startup Institute's immersive, eight-week program graduated nearly 300 students between its three U.S. cities in 2013. Each were prepared for a startup job in one of four specializations: product and design, technical marketing, sales and account management or Web development.
In November, the Startup Institute's Manhattan campus received recognition from Take the H.E.L.M., a competition held by the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The team won $250,000 toward a permanent office, which they will move into in February. Soon, WeWork Charging Bull will be called "home."
The Startup Institute also raised $1.3 million in combined equity and debt from strategic angel investors and banking partners. With that financing, the team will be building other homes internationally, continuing their expansion.
Startup job postings have risen 44 percent in London since 2012, according to the Startup Institute. Joanna Shields, CEO of Tech City UK and business ambassador for Digital Industries, described the accelerator's expansion into London as "well-timed," adding in a statement that "tech and digital businesses are the new growth engine of the London economy, generating 27 percent of the capital's job growth."
The Startup Institute's London program will begin on June 2, 2014, while Berlin's will start on May 12. With 100,000 jobs expected to be created in Berlin by 2020, the fellow capital is also destined to become a hotbed of innovation. As Andrew Hoag, the Startup Institute's managing director for Europe, explained in a statement:
With the influx of capital to Berlin's ecosystem, the biggest constraint growing companies now face is finding qualified talent. Across Germany and all of Europe, people want to work where the music plays, and Startup Institute gives our graduates the skills to make strong companies even stronger.
Nine out of 10 students are currently able to find a job within three months of graduating from the program, according to the Startup Institute — a sign of how far the program has come since saying goodbye to its inaugural Boston class less than two years ago.
As Startup Institute Co-founder and CEO Aaron O'Hearn has noted before, “Anywhere there’s an ecosystem investing in early-stage companies needs a Startup Institute.”
So expect the growth to keep on coming.
Featured Image via Chris Knight Photography
