The global company Techstars announced it will end its JP Morgan-backed Washington accelerator at the end of this year, along with other similar programs across the country. The company is also eliminating 17% of its workforce. Keep scrolling to get more details on what happened.
Also, a DC nonprofit is teaching teens entrepreneurship and emotional wellness. Tumaini DC's business development program, which just wrapped its summer programming, helped youth learn professional skills while refining business ideas. Find more on that below.
— Kaela, Technical.ly lead reporter in DC and Baltimore
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The pre-seed investor's decision is tied to the $80 million Advancing Cities fund, through which it developed nine different accelerator programs across the country. The fund, which sunsets this year, was created via a partnership between Techstars and banking giant JP Morgan.
The planned DC cohort of 24 companies will still convene in September.
CEO and cofounder David Cohen notified staff of the layoffs and the program's end in an email last week. He noted that Techstars’ current priority is not to scale programming, but to “shift all of our focus to being better for founders each and every day.”
“While this is a necessary business decision,” Cohen wrote, “it doesn’t make it any less painful.”
Through Tumaini DC, students spent six weeks over the summer developing business ideas that solve problems in their communities. That program, which began in 2021, culminated in a pitch competition between a handful of students.
Founder and executive director Portia Richardson created the entrepreneurship initiative to help students navigate the world with more agency.
“Most of our young people are very entrepreneurial-minded. They're very innovative,” she told me. “It allows them to use their voice, to leverage their voice and solve problems. But it also gives them another pathway to create generational wealth and to break the cycle of generational poverty.”
More people than ever are getting local news from social media. About 23% of Americans say it’s their primary source, per the latest Pew survey, up from 15% half a decade ago — and the younger you are, the more likely that is. That’s one reason Technical.ly is on these platforms. At least some of them.
Our latest move is to start posting regularly on Threads — follow us at @technical_ly — but we’re also heavily active on LinkedIn, which makes sense as the innovation ecosystem’s platform of choice, since it’s so heavily business-focused. We’re rethinking our strategy for Instagram (if you have suggestions, let us know) and are also still posting on Facebook. Last note: As of this week, we’re moving all X posts to our main account instead of market-specific feeds, so if you’re still there, give that a follow.
• The insurance provider CareFirst consolidated its offices and moved its DC headquarters last month, while Axios HQ expands its leadership and released a new AI-powered product. [Technical.ly]
• The district is investigating the city's previous sole sports betting company as Attorney General Brian Schwalb demands documents from the gaming giant Intralot. [Washington City Paper]
• Venture For America, the nonprofit that placed college graduates with startups across the country, shut down due to fundraising concerns. [Technical.ly]
• The Tysons-based nonprofit NobleReach Foundation announced its inaugural class of scholars, who will be placed in technology and entrepreneurship-focused roles within the government or the private sector. [NobleReach Foundation]
• DC's 911 system has been dysfunctional for some time now, complete with dropped calls and dispatching to incorrect addresses. One report from a few years ago noted a lack of tech upgrades over the years. [Washingtonian]
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