City Startup Labs

Overview:

City Startup Labs (CSL) is establishing a center of excellence for entrepreneurial competency, innovation and leadership (CoE) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in association with Ventureprise. It operates out of the Ventureprise offices in UNC Charlotte’s PORTAL building.

Program:

The City Startup Labs ~ Entrepreneurs Academy conducts a 15-week boot camp where African American millenials learn how to research, plan, launch and operate their own ventures. City Startup Labs launched in early 2014 and has since graduated nearly 50 young entrepreneurs. Six months of training culminates in a formal pitch competition attended by early-stage seed investors, the local business community and the general public. Winners receive cash prizes and free desk space in a local co-working hub. In 2018, CSL will be launching another pilot in Charlotte, targeting returning citizens or the formerly incarcerated, with a unique approach to restorative justice through entrepreneurship. This new effort will be made possible through an award from the Kauffman Foundation’s Inclusion Open Grant (City Startup Labs is one of twenty nationwide recipients), along with another grant received from the United Way of Central Carolinas this year, through their Unite Charlotte award.

MAILING ADDRESS

PORTAL Building
9201 University City Blvd.
Charlotte, NC 28223

PHYSICAL ADDRESS

PORTAL Building
9319 Robert D Snyder Rd.
Charlotte, NC 28223