Cincinnati Ecosystem

I. Introduction

Cincinnati is in the unique position of being able to determine the narrative that will shape its entrepreneurial ecosystem. The ten Fortune 500 companies that call Cincinnati home have the potential to ignite the tech startup ecosystem should they choose.

Known as one of the top branding, marketing and design hubs of the United States

America’s Midwestern states are the fifth largest economy in the world

Cincinnati jumped from 35th place to 16th out of 40 metropolitan areas for biggest positive shifts in rank across entrepreneurship in the city, state, and national levels

Brief History of Entrepreneurship

Resources in Cincinnati

Startups in Silicon Valley or New York don’t receive the same support from large firms that early-stage companies in Cincinnati do

University of Cincinnati (more invention disclosures per research dollar than MIT, but fewer patents due to lack of resources)

Accelerators span the tristate OH-KY-IN MSA, Brandery, UpTech, Ocean (Oakley)

Seed Stage Investors—CincyTech, Connetic Ventures (KY) and Queen City Angels

StartupCincy—maintains an exhaustive list of upcoming network, education, accelerator, and develop events in the city

Centrifuse

Pairs start-ups with potential customers and corporations to start-ups

Manages a $55 million VC fund of funds and built a 38,000 square foot campus and co-working space in Cincinnati where The Brandery is located

Invests in Allos Ventures, Sigma Prime Venture, Upfront Ventures, Mercury Fund and more

Big companies invest in Centrifuse—Duke Energy, American Financial Group, W&S Financial Group Distributors, Kroger, Castellini, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Cincinnati Children’s,

University of Cincinnati, USBank

Companies like P&G, Krogrer, and Western & Southern depend on Cintrifuse to help them source innovation for their businesses and grow the region’s startup ecosystem

Goal is to create a sustainable tech-based economy for the Greater Cincinnati Region

Venture Capital

Total US VC availability decreased by 9% in 2015, but VC availability in Ohio increased 22% to $296 million

SDC VC data under Projects-->Ecosystem-->CincinnatiData1

Barriers

Ecosystem orchestration

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