Resources for Entrepreneurs & Innovators in the Twin Cities
The resource list of Minneapolis and St. Paul’s startup community has grown exponentially in the last few years. From showcases to pitch competitions, top-tier accelerator programs to co-working spaces, the Twin Cities provides a vast range of resources for a variety of entrepreneurs. Whether you simply have a bright idea or your venture is already in full swing, the Twin Cities has an incredible amount of opportunities for all entrepreneurs to expand their network, establish funding, and execute their vision.
Here’s a few examples to get your started.
~~~Angel Investors & Venture Capitalist Groups~~~
Capita3 is a venture capital fund that invests in female-led early-stage startups in innovative health sectors. Their mission is to invest in companies that improve our ability to heal and be healthy, make it easier to care for ourselves and our families, and help us all lead healthier lives. Their track of innovation specializes in women’s health, genomics, and bio IT among other sectors.
Capita3 offers a 21-Day Self Launch Program that is designed to fast-track women entrepreneurs’ confidence and effectiveness along a 21-day timeline. Participants are trained on how to raise finance and accelerate sales growth, among other integral skills. Companies at any stage of development, especially those seeking financing are eligible for the startup milestone program.
The Network Connect links businesses with investors and provides educational materials to help companies in all sectors gather more information about the funding process and scale up. They offer a subscription to a video-based learning portal called “Lessons from the Garage” that offers 200+ videos and podcasts with insights for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
Revolution is a venture capitalist group whose mission is to build innovative companies that offer more choice, convenience, and control for both consumers and businesses. Their niche is technology-enabled businesses that empower consumers and disrupt existing, multi-billion-dollar industries. Revolution invests in scaling an incredible idea to capitalize on major market opportunities and has worked with companies such as CustomInk and SweetGreen. Revolution chooses 1–2 startups to invest in each year where they implement a hands-on strategy to jumpstart your company’s market acceptance.
For early-stage startups in particular, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest seed fund supports approximately 20 startups a year. The Rise of the Rest seed fund focuses on investing capital in the most promising seed stage companies located outside of the Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston in major industries such as healthcare, food, transportation, and agriculture.
According to Fundera, Minnesota is the fourth-leading state for female entrepreneurs. Organizations like Pipeline Angels are committed to changing the face of angel investing and creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs. Their signature pitch summit will be returning to Minneapolis on November 8, 2019! This pitch summit is the perfect opportunity for invited women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs to pitch their for-profit social ventures for a chance to secure funding.
~~~Accelerators~~~
There are three active Techstars programs in the Twin Cities — the Farm to Fork Accelerator, the United HealthCare Accelerator, and the Target + METRO Retail Accelerator. Generally, each program offers a 3-month accelerator program to 10 carefully-selected companies with the aim to grow your network, determine and execute your fundraising strategy, and provide your startup with three to five close mentors before concluding the program with the Techstars Demo Day in the fall. Your company will refine your market fit, further develop your product, and create a strategy to quickly scale your venture. Companies are offered $120,000 worth of funding and access to Techstars’ comprehensive alumni network.
BETA’s cohort experience is a non-dilutive accelerator where founders receive five months of free workspace, three months of carefully curated workshops, and countless introductions to the resources and relationships required to accelerate the growth of their business.
Finnovation Lab is a Minnesota-local accelerator with the mission to inspire, nourish, and scale impact enterprises, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. They support the full spectrum of entrepreneurship through providing coworking and office space, education, technical assistance, and other additional support for ambitious entrepreneurs and investors. Finnovation offers a nine-month Fellowship program from September to June that provides social entrepreneurs with funding, a dedicated workspace, curriculum to design a successful social enterprise, tailored mentorship, and continuous support throughout the business development process.
Gener8tor is a turnkey platform for the creative economy that connects startups, entrepreneurs, artists, investors, universities, and corporations. The Gener8tor platform includes pre-accelerators, accelerators, corporate programming, conferences and fellowships focused on entrepreneurs, musicians and artists. Gener8tor focuses on industries such as software, hardware, information technology, software-as-a-service, life science, medtech, and e-commerce.
Three times a year, this nationally-ranked accelerator invests $100,000 in five high-growth startups during a 12-week concierge program. Selected companies will receive $20,000 cash investment in exchange for 6–7% stock equity followed by $80,000 of guaranteed follow-up capital, access to interns for design and marketing support, $1,000,000 in deals and perks from big-ticket vendors such as Amazon and Microsoft, and continuous support from the Gener8tor team. Gener8tor delivers a comprehensive package of benefits that enables early-stage ventures to quickly and effectively scale their enterprise.
~~~Pitch Events & Showcases~~~
Twice a year, BETA hosts the Showcase where tech enthusiasts, investors, reporters, and the public are invited to meet founders from a dozen of the Twin Cities’ top, emerging companies.
The Minnesota Cup is the nation’s largest startup competition hosted through the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Their annual competition attracts entrepreneurs from across the state to pitch their groundbreaking new ideas and connects them with tools, resources, and support to launch and accelerate the development of their new ventures. The competition and events are completely free, and the investors take zero equity on the seed funding they disperse. Check out the 2019 Semi-Finalists here!
Minnedemo is a showcase for working technology products based out of Minnesota and hosted through Minnestar. Demos are 7-minutes long and there are NO POWERPOINTS! It’s an energizing, informative evening for innovators, investors, and technologists of all kinds. The next MinneDemo is on October 10, 2019 at the Riverview Theatre, join us to hear about the latest tech innovations that are coming to life in the Twin Cities!
~~~Meetups & Networking Opportunities~~~
IoTFuse is a non-profit professional network of makers, innovators, and business leaders in the internet of things space. IoTFuse hosts an annual IoTFuse conference and an annual experiential IoT Hackday in the fall. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about the intricacies of information technology from subject matter experts at their monthly meetings!
Healthcare.mn is a collaborative community of innovators that are passionate about improving healthcare, building connections within the healthcare community, educating, and representing the needs of healthcare startups in Minnesota. Established in 2012, Healthcare.mn is driven to create a community that encourages, supports, and sustains early stage startups. Their monthly events range from ideation sessions and hackathons to thematic and panel discussions. Check out their page to see when they’re hosting their next event!
PyLadies is an international mentorship group that enables women to become leaders in the Python open-source community. Their mission is to promote, education, and advance a diverse Python community through outreach, education, events, and social gatherings. Whether you’re a full-time software engineer or just a hobbyist, PyLadies encourages women of all skill levels to join them.
~~~Misc.~~~
SciTech helps start-ups and small businesses connect to and pay for STEM college interns.
MN SBIR provides access to funding from 11 federal agencies to help small companies commercialize innovation.
~~~And the GRANDDADDY of them All…~~~
Every fall, Twin Cities Startup Week invites you to the Startup Capital of the North to join them for a week full of startups on display. Hackers, artists, and entrepreneurs from across the Twin Cities will come together to celebrate the explosion of innovation in the Twin Cities. Featuring 200+ events with over 17,000 attendees, Twin Cities Startup Week is one of the largest entrepreneurial events in the United States.
Are you interested in exploring the Twin Cities, but have no existing network here? Twin Cities Startup Week’s Fly-in Program offers participants up to $350 of airfare reimbursement to fly up to the Twin Cities and explore our startup community!
