The Cincinnati Business Courier’s sister publication Cincy Inno, which highlights the region's fastest-growing, hottest and most innovative companies, hosted its Inno on Fire event Monday, Aug. 19.
Dozens of attendees, including startup founders, gathered at University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub to hear Cincy Inno Editor Liz Engel and a panel of industry professionals discuss Cincinnati’s Innovation District and its startup ecosystem.
Panelists included Emma Off, CEO and president at CincyTech, a venture capital firm investing in founders primarily solving challenges in the life sciences realm; J.B. Kropp, CEO of Cintrifuse, which provides resources and support for venture-seeking startups; and Ryan Hays, UC's executive vice president and chief innovation and strategy officer.
To see photos from the event, click through the gallery above.
As an evolving player in the startup world, Cincinnati’s ecosystem is about halfway through its 20-year journey, according to Kropp. Off agreed, hoping to see more Series A funding in particular to fill a gap for early-stage investors.
When it comes to raising capital, artificial intelligence tools have allowed people to become more efficient in their founder journeys and in raising capital. However, there’s limited capital in the Cincinnati region, and those in the industry are working toward attracting more.
“Do I think that in 10 years, Cincinnati is going to be the AI epicenter? No, I don’t, but I think everybody should be using that technology,” Off said. “In this environment where funding is really hard to come by, there’s a lot you can do with AI if you know how to use the tools. There’s a lot of resources available in our community.”
There are other funding sources startups can seek out, including pre-seed grants, Technology Validation and Start-up Fund grants from the state of Ohio as well as niche-specific grants like ones from the National Science Foundation.
“If you’re still at that pre-seed stage, like you’re still working on the commercialization stage, take advantage of non-dilutive capital,” Off said. “We have more of a mature ecosystem, but I think everyone still recognizes that there needs to be some funding available to continue what we’re all doing.”
“I do think Cincinnati’s got a right to win,” Kropp said. “From an investor’s perspective … we look at AI, it’s not a focus for us for investments, (but) a lot of startups are leveraging AI from a technology perspective. I think Cincinnati’s got an interesting right to make a claim for having a lot of energy around it, especially with UC here.”
The 1819 Innovation Hub is the heartbeat of the Cincinnati Innovation District. Currently, the building houses eight startups and 10 more mid-capital firms. At the start, it was largely innovation space for big companies.
“Having those different groups in the same space, that was always this vision of 1819, and we’re starting to see it come to fruition,” Hays said. “When you’re developing a district, it's really about the who and the why. Who do you want to be and why does that matter? So there’s a different level of curation, and there’s also a different level of collaboration.”
A major factor in getting a startup off the ground is telling its story and creating an audience to help gain traction and attention not only from investors, but also consumers.
“It’s really our job to help, and we have a certain support mindset for the entrepreneurs in our community,” Hays said. “There’s nothing better than having another party tell your story. It’s easy to underestimate the power of that storytelling, because it’s all about visibility.
The Cincinnati startup ecosystem is evolving. Industry experts hope to see the availability of funds continue to grow as more companies prove to be successful.
Cincy Inno’s event was followed by a reception, providing attendees the opportunity to network and discuss their industry.
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