Great news for Sacramento’s startup ecosystem from last night’s State of the City Address by Mayor Kevin Johnson. In his last address, Johnson announced several big ideas that will help to boost Sacramento’s growing startup scene. The local news media and Twitter have been abuzz with the news. As best as I can piece together, here’s a recap of the startup-related news from the address.
Mayor proposes:
- Creating a “Mayor’s Innovation Office” focused on helping startups
- Investing $1 million from new city innovation fund into Sacramento startups
- $500,000 to fund small grants for organizations that “grow and train entrepreneurs”
- Investing $2 million into accelerator “500 Startups” which would invest in at least 10 new companies
- Setting aside $5.2 million for a medical innovation zone to bring in up to a dozen companies in East Sac (or is it Oak Park? I’ve seen references to both.)
- Find & develop additional innovation zones that provide physical space and resources for entrepreneurs
- Collaborate with the Kings to develop the Arena in Natomas into an “Innovation Business Campus”
- Urban Hive’s I/O Labs to take over First Northern Bank building at 700 J Street for new incubator/accelerator that will house up to 1,000 entrepreneurs
- Two startups relocating to Sacramento; AnPac Bio-Medical Science Co., and Flippbox
For more details, check out the following:
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article57200158.html
