The University of Missouri–St. Louis’ entrepreneurship program has expanded its footprint thanks to a new campus facility it calls home.
UMSL Accelerate has moved into a 9,700-square-foot stand-alone facility, located at 44 Arnold B Grobman Drive, that will house its operations moving forward. It’s a move that UMSL Accelerate Executive Director Dan Lauer says will provide increased educational and collaborative space for students enrolled in its courses and startups involved in its accelerator programs. UMSL Accelerate previously operated out of the university's J.C. Penney Building, where its offices totaled less than 1,000 square feet.
The new Accelerate space was formerly home to UMSL’s Gallery 210, which has relocated elsewhere on campus as part of a university master planning process, said Chancellor Kristin Sobolik. She said the former gallery space is a good fit for UMSL Accelerate, with conducts work that reaches beyond the campus and can benefit from the facility's proximity to the UMSL North MetroLink station.
“As part of our master planning process, as we seek to really revitalize our Metro stops, we wanted to put things or activities by the Metro stops that will be much more open to our community,” Sobolik said. “This will be a fantastic location for our UMSL Accelerate because it’s all about not only our campus but it’s the community and building startups everywhere from around the world.”
Founded in 2016, UMSL Accelerate currently has 47 students pursuing an entrepreneurship degree and 275 enrolled this fall in entrepreneurship classes. It also operates the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Accelerator, which launched in 2020 and provides $50,000 in non-dilutive funding to St. Louis-area early stage startup founders from marginalized groups. Applications for the second cohort of that program close Friday.
While UMSL Accelerate has already started to use its new facility, it plans to make renovations to enhance to its classes and programming. Once completed, it will include an auditorium, outdoor space, makerspace and collaboration spaces for students and startups. UMSL Accelerate has sought proposals from architects and plans to pick a firm next month as it begins fundraising for the project.
Lauer said he believes it is important for his program to create a space that generates “spontaneous collisions” between students and entrepreneurs to drive innovation, networking and mentorship. He said UMSL Accelerate plans to raise a $10 million endowment to create a permanent fund to support the program’s growth.
In addition to the new facility, Sobolik said the university hopes to expand accelerator programming. She said UMSL is having conversations with industries about staging specialized accelerator programs. The university was previously part of a partnership that staged the Ameren Accelerator, which backed energy-focused startups.
“I want this to continue to grow and expand and continue to be one of the foundational business startup and entrepreneurial areas for St. Louis,” Sobolik said. “St. Louis has been able to move aggressively in the entrepreneurial space and UMSL has helped lead the way on that."
