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Venture Café
Company typeNonprofit
IndustryTechnology, Startups
Founded2009; 15 years ago (2009)
FoundersTim Rowe, Carrie Stalder
HeadquartersBoston,
Massachusetts
,
U.S.
Areas served
11 cities
Key people
Tim Rowe
Products
Brands
  • Venture Café
  • Venture Café Global
  • Innovation Hall
  • District Hall
ServicesShared workspaces and related services for entrepreneurs

Venture Café is a nonprofit organization that hosts community events and programs that support early-stage entrepreneurs.[1]

As of May 2020, there are 11 independently managed Venture Cafés, located in Boston, St. Louis, Missouri; Miami; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Providence, Rhode Island; Tokyo, Japan; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Warsaw, Poland; Bilbao, Spain; and Sydney, Australia.[2] As of 2019, there were plans to open Venture Cafés in some 40 more cities.[3]

The flagship event of Venture Café is the Thursday Gathering, a weekly meeting for new and experienced entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and support. The event usually includes several free educational sessions to teach entrepreneurs to how to start and run a business. Participants can also hold informal discussions of creative and speculative ideas and look for collaborators, co-founders, mentors, or investors.[4]

History

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The Venture Café was conceived as a restaurant in the Cambridge Innovation Center in Boston, Massachusetts.[5] The idea failed to attract investment, so the founders changed it to a gathering space for the entrepreneurial community, based on the book Venture Café by Teresa Esser.[4] Venture Café Kendall launched in 2009.[citation needed]

In 2014, Venture Café expanded to the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis, Missouri, to bring together the emerging startup community.[6] The success of the St. Louis location prompted the launch of Venture Cafés in other cities and ultimately the creation of Venture Café Global Institute, a public benefit corporation based in St. Louis and Boston.[7]

In 2018, as part of St. Louis Cortex District's new 4220 Duncan building anchored by Microsoft, Venture Cafe launched Innovation Hall in St. Louis based upon Boston's District Hall.[8]

In 2018, St. Louis launched EdHub[9] to support and bring together innovators to increase youth access to education.[10] EdHub STL is inspired by the Forward Through Ferguson report, which calls for an innovation education hub to address the region's most entrenched educational issues.[11]

Venture Café Foundation in Boston runs the Roxbury Innovation Center.[9] Like EdHub, it brings together innovators in education including students, parents, administration, and teachers to help solve inequities in education and introduce youth to entrepreneurship and STEAM activities.[citation needed]

In September 2021, Venture Café St. Louis cancelled its events and made no public statements.[12]

On September 13, 2021, Venture Café St. Louis board chair Whitney Masching released a statement stating, "Seven years later, it is time to close this chapter. Effective immediately, the VCSTL programming you know is on pause — but this isn’t the end."[13]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Innovation Studio | Roxbury, MA | Cause IQ". www.causeiq.com. Retrieved 2023-06-03.
  2. ^ "Global Network". venturecafeglobal.org. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  3. ^ "Our netowrk is growing". Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Venture Café's mission is connecting innovators to make things happen". Venture Cafe Official Website. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  5. ^ Kirsner, Scott (21 June 2018). "How a failed restaurant became Cambridge's hottest Thursday spot". Boston Globe. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  6. ^ Bryant, Tim (Sep 29, 2014). "Cambridge Innovation Center opens at Cortex". St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  7. ^ McGuigan, Christine (2 March 2018). "T-REX and Venture Cafe STL are changing St. Louis' startup landscape". Silicon Prairie News. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  8. ^ Deem, Jason (10 May 2018). "Cortex Unveils New 4220 Duncan Building". NextSTL. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  9. ^ a b Kukuljan, Steph (11 April 2018). "'Innovation center,' restaurant to open at Cortex". St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Venture Cafe St. Louis To Open Innovation Hall At Cortex". 12 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Create an Innovative Education Hub". Forward Through Ferguson. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  12. ^ Paul Riat (10 September 2021). "Venture Cafe St. Louis Goes Quiet". 4thest8. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  13. ^ Paul Riat (13 September 2021). "UPDATE: VENCAFSTL BOARD RESPONDS; NEW SITE GOES UP (BUT NO CONTENT)". 4thest8. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
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