Ohio State-supported startup hub celebrates opening in Bay Area

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Ohio State-supported startup hub celebrates opening in Bay Area

Midwest research institutions join one of the world's most active venture ecosystems

The Ohio State University joined partner universities and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie to celebrate the opening of the Third Coast Foundry innovation hub on June 23 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a showcase of early-stage startup companies.

Representatives from Ohio State's Center for Software Innovation and Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship joined founders, investors and others at the 3,500-square-foot ground-floor workspace in San Francisco's South Park neighborhood. The new center is in the heart of one of the world's largest venture capital communities and an emerging AI corridor.

"Ohio State is making an active commitment to support the growth of our builders and founders - across students, researchers, alumni and beyond. The Third Coast Foundry is both a physical presence as well as a bridge between the Bay Area and the Midwest, allowing not only increased access to capital and commercial opportunity, but a showcase of the power of our research and student innovation," said Shereen Agrawal, associate vice president of student innovation and entrepreneurship and executive director of the Center for Software Innovation.

The location creates opportunities for investors, alumni and other partners to engage through meetings, events and programming.

Partner institutions include the Center for Software Innovation; the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon; Northwestern Innovation + New Ventures (INVO); Purdue Innovates; the Polsky Center at UChicago; the Technology Entrepreneur Center and Origin Ventures Office of Entrepreneurship at Illinois; Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub and Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF); and Washington University.

Together, the partner universities account for nearly $10 billion in annual research investment and educate more than 300,000 students, producing one of the nation's largest talent pipelines.

The celebration also featured the Midwest Deep Tech Demo Day, showcasing early-stage startups emerging from the Midwest's leading research institutions. Ohio State-based startups included:

• Empower Battery: A new electric vehicle battery technology firm founded by Anne Co, professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
• ForgeNest: An advanced manufacturing AI and robotics startup that is based on technology licensed from Ohio State.
• RedNOx: A climate technology company commercializing ultra-sensitive, solid-state nitrogen oxide sensors. The company is founded by former university researcher Solomon Ssenyange and Prabir Dutta, Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Ohio State.
• Relantic: An emerging AI enterprise founded by Arnab Nandi, professor of computer science and engineering, and Ohio State alumnus Anmol Takiar.

In addition to the ribbon cutting and Demo Day, Ohio State students in the university's Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship Summer Catalyst program participated in an alumni event at Third Coast Foundry to help build their networks.

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