3 Illinois universities join San Francisco hub linking their startups, Bay Area investors

Eight Midwest universities, including two in Chicago, are launching a hub in San Francisco where university-supported startups, researchers and affiliates can meet investors and partners in the Bay Area, the country’s tech capital.

The universities include the University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Purdue, Ohio State, Carnegie Mellon and Washington University in St. Louis.

The hub, called Third Coast Foundry, is based in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood at 625 Second St. The 3,500-square-foot workspace will be a short-term base for the university teams to have meetings, demo days, receptions, workshops and other events.

Third Coast Foundry will have its grand opening this summer. It’s managed and operated by the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which announced the hub on Tuesday.

“Midwestern universities produce an enormous amount of innovation and entrepreneurial talent,” Samir Mayekar, managing director of the Polsky Center, said. “At the same time, venture capital remains heavily concentrated on the coasts.”

Midwest founders can take about 18 months longer than their coastal peers to raise their first $500,000, which is a critical milestone for startups, Mayekar said, citing PitchBook data.

Non-coastal founders also have less exposure to venture capital firms and more challenges building relationships with coastal investors, he added.

“Third Coast Foundry is designed to help reduce that gap by giving Midwest founders a short-term base in the Bay Area venture ecosystem, where they can build relationships with investors and partners without having to uproot their company,” Mayekar said.

“San Francisco is the global hub of innovation, technology and venture capital, and with yet another investment from leading institutions of higher education, we are accelerating our city’s recovery and strengthening our city center as a place where people live, work, play and learn,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a news release.

Those using Third Coast Foundry will typically be connected to a partner university through their entrepreneurship or commercialization programs. They can include startups founded by students, faculty, researchers, alumni and teams participating in university accelerator or venture development programs.

Third Coast Foundry is launching as a two-year pilot. Beyond shared costs to lease and maintain the space, it will largely be driven by the universities.

“Each institution will host its own programming, events, and founder meetings — including investor meetings, startup showcases, alumni gatherings and other programming that connects their startups and innovators with Bay Area investors and partners,” Mayekar said.