The Cincinnati Innovation District is expanding its physical footprint with a focus on attracting more minority-led startups and underrepresented entrepreneurs — an effort that will be led by one of the nation’s top female venture capitalists, officials announced today.
Candice Matthews Brackeen, founder and executive director of Lightship Foundation, said Lightship will establish its headquarters in the CID and convert two properties into collaborative spaces for students, artists, designers, entrepreneurs and minority-led startups. She was flagged by top officials from the city and state in announcing the news, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and more.
The properties include:
- The historic “Boulter House,” located at 1 Rawson Woods Circle in Clifton, designed by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, will serve as Lightship’s “innovators in residence” house within the CID. Boulter House will provide a space for underrepresented students, artists, architectural designers and entrepreneurs to inspire creativity, master their craft, and build community through 90-day residential fellowships and programming. Matthews Brackeen and her husband Brian Brackeen, who also serves as general partner for Lightship Capital, a local venture capital firm, purchased the property for $519,000 in March, per Hamilton County property records. It will open Nov. 1.
- And “The Beacon,” located at 121 E. McMillan. The Beacon, the former Cincinnati Dental Practice, was leased by the University of Cincinnati in December — a move made as UC’s “1819” Innovation Hub in Avondale reached capacity. The Beacon will be anchored by the new headquarters for Lightship Foundation. It’s expected to open in the third quarter of 2022.
JobsOhio will invest $1 million to help fund the build out of the Beacon facility. The University of Cincinnati has already committed to a $11 million investment in 121 E. McMillan to help prepare the more than 21,000 square foot building.
“It’s important that there be dedicated spaces where the local community can engage with the innovation economy,” Matthews Brackeen said. “We’re excited to be part of the movement here in Cincinnati toward including all entrepreneurs in access to the district and its resources.”
State and local officials applauded the efforts. The Brackeens founded Lightship Capital to invest specifically in underrepresented entrepreneurs; its $50 million inaugural fund is the largest fund dedicated to Midwest, minority-led startups. The Wall Street Journal named Matthews Brackeen to its top 10 list of women venture capitalists for 2020.
“The announcement today is particularly exciting,” DeWine said. “It’s important because many talented people with great ideas, great skill, great potential aren’t able to move forward, because of lack of capital. It happens to women, it happens to minorities, it happens to all different groups. To get more people on the playing field who are creating jobs, making the state better, makes all the difference in the world.
“The innovation district expansion announced today opens both a gateway to entrepreneurship and an incubator for the minority-led companies that will take root here as a result,” DeWine said.
Matthews Brackeen said Lightship’s investments and the CID expansion has helped lure at least two of its portfolio companies to town, including Louisville, Ky.-based Kare Mobile, a mobile dentistry provider that serves under-represented communities. Femi Secrets, a feminine care startup based in Atlanta, will also bring its contract manufacturing stateside to Cincinnati in 2022, she said.
Besides Cincinnati, Lightship has offices in Detroit and Tulsa, Okla.
The Cincinnati Innovation District, an ecosystem anchored by University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, includes the 1819 Innovation Hub, the under-construction Digital Futures Building, the Uptown Innovation Corridor and more. It was officially unveiled by DeWine and Husted and JobsOhio in March 2020. The district aims to serve as a "blueprint" for the state and ensure Cincinnati becomes a magnet for talent that attracts Fortune 500, mid-size and developing startup companies, officials said.
JobsOhio is investing up to $100 million to accelerate the number of STEM graduates and execute $2 billion of research and real estate development within the CID.
