A Columbus-based coworking startup has donated $500,000 in professional services to students at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business.
Cohatch, a company that offers shared workspaces and amenities with locations in Greater Cincinnati, presented the gift Dec. 2 at the RedHawk Venture Pitch Competition on the Miami campus in Oxford. Out of the 24 competing companies, the winner was Pips, described as a "direct-to-consumer tasty and healthy snack aimed at children."
The eight students behind the company are:
- Abby Grone
- Jamie Nguyen
- Emma Shaffer
- Jake Ransbottom
- Natalie Brinkman
- Nicholas Nocevski
- Hannah Schweitzer
- Aleia Nagle.
The students are the first to receive part of the donation in the form of free Cohatch services, including access to all of the company’s locations throughout Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Tampa.
Scholarships for use of Cohatch’s locations will continue to be awarded over the next three years to additional Miami students and graduates pursuing entrepreneurship. The Farmer School of Business will also be able to use the locations for meetings and events.
“With this partnership, we’re furthering our mission of ‘strengthening communities, improving lives and equipping people to be greater,’ by investing in the students, faculty and alumni of the Farmer School of Business,” Matt Davis, co-founder and CEO of Cohatch, said in a release. “My wife and I are very proud alumni of Miami and are excited to be a small part of supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
Davis sees the gift as an opportunity to create greater connectivity between students, faculty, alumni and the community.
Founded in 2016, Cohatch has three Greater Cincinnati locations in Hyde Park, Mason and downtown Milford, which just opened last month. A fourth location is planned soon inside Kenwood Towne Centre. Across the country, the company has 27 locations that are open or under construction.
The Farmer School of Business’s John W. Altman Institute of Entrepreneurship has been ranked among the top such programs in the world. Last year, the institute was recognized with the NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. Graduates of the program have founded nine unicorns, which are privately held startup companies valued at more than $1 billion.
Miami is the second-largest university in Greater Cincinnati with an enrollment of 23,045, per Courier research.
