WASHINGTON, D.C. — More than $5 million in city money is headed to Washington startups and the programs that coach them, Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday at an event marking the 11th DC Startup and Tech Week.
The package pays for six new accelerator groups and helps launch five new companies. About $2 million comes from the Technology Ecosystem Fund, created this year, which made its first three awards: $800,000 to Plug and Play for four sector-focused cohorts serving 40 companies, $600,000 to New Majority Ventures for two cohorts covering 55 local firms, and $600,000 to SOAR Bio to grow its venture studio at the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus.
Companies in the Plug and Play program get free office space inside the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District.
The rest is seven investments, totaling $3.15 million, from the $26 million DC Venture Capital Fund in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, aerospace and energy companies. That fund uses federal State Small Business Credit Initiative money from the Treasury Department, and private investors must put in at least a dollar for every public dollar. K Street Capital runs it for the deputy mayor’s economic development office, working through venture firms that cut deals of $250,000 and up with local startups.
The mayor also released a State of DC Tech report counting 51,000 tech jobs in the city, a number it expects to rise 7.9% by 2028, along with more than 15,000 tech companies.
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