Dan Roselli and his wife, Sara, have big plans for their mission to support entrepreneurship in Charlotte.
They launched the Garage@Packard Place 12 years ago as a landing spot for budding entrepreneurs. It grew into a hub for mentorship, training and collaboration — with staff hosting 3,000 entrepreneurial events and pouring 42,000 pints of beer. The Rosellis estimate that operation has reinvested $1.7 million back into the entrepreneurial community here.
To propel that mission, the Rosellis are transitioning the Garage into the RevTech Labs Foundation.
"The social impact mission of RevTech Labs has been there from the very, very beginning, and we think this brings it into clear focus," Dan Roselli said. "People in Charlotte sometimes don't recognize the national (and) international caliber of the work we're doing."
The Garage was a not-for-profit operation, but the foundation is designated a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Sara Garces Roselli will be president of the foundation. She said the hope is for the 501(c)3 to draw more funding, including from corporations.
Last summer, the Rosellis, operating as Packard Place Properties, sold a majority stake in their 0.64-acre uptown property for $15.4 million to an affiliate of Chicago-based Northpond Partners. They originally purchased the 95,000-square-foot building in 2010 for $3.3 million, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records. Dan Roselli, who is moving into a founder emeritus-like role, said they wanted to disconnect the RevTech Labs mission from a building-centered function.
In 2019, they rolled the Queen City Fintech and Packard Place brands under the RevTech Labs name. That shift helped reflect the organization's expansion into other sectors, such as insurtech and health-tech.
"People kind of thought we were crazy when we bought an empty downtown office building in the middle of the recession to turn into a tech and entrepreneurship hub in Charlotte," he said. "Quite frankly, it's always been a break-even operation, but I think a lot of corporations, it will allow them to look at that as an asset of the community now."
Alumni of RevTech Labs have raised a total $2.5 billion in capital.
RevTech Labs will soon start raising a second fund. Part of that plan includes doubling its accelerator program to accommodate 30 startups per year. It will also move the accelerator under the foundation. RevTech Labs will welcome Class 16 to the accelerator in early April. It plans to double the team as the organization grows, Roselli added.
Another goal is to raise more awareness about venture-capital opportunities here, Sara Roselli said. Investors are looking for deals, but they aren't educated on what Charlotte can offer, she said. Dan Roselli said the local venture-capital space needs leadership around a more focused effort.
The Rosellis plan to focus more on growing their existing projects this year. The Health Innovation Summit is coming up in September. Its Venture 135 conference, the largest of its kind in the Southeast, will follow a couple of months later. Applications for RevTech Labs' health-tech accelerator will also be available later this year.
