Detroit has a new resident: Techstars. The noted startup accelerator is today announcing Techstars Mobility, a program designed to advance young mobility and transportation companies in the Motor City. Together with Ford, Magna and Verizon Telematics, the program will give 10 startups deep access into the motor industries.
The program will be led by Ted Serbinski, formerly of Detroit Venture Partners after moving from San Francisco in 2011. It will be based in downtown Detroit.
Like other Techstars programs, Techstars Mobility will give startups $120,000 in funding and three months of access to its network of advisers and mentors.
As Crains Detroit reported yesterday, this program has been rumored for months.
Before Detroit Techstars has been in Boulder, Austin, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, New York, and London. This is exciting for Detroit, which has so far failed to focus its startup efforts on the area’s strengths.
Up until this program, startup accelerators, incubators and incentives have attempted to recruit and develop companies of all sorts. While that’s noble, Detroit has access to boundless automobile and mobility engineering resources. Techstars Mobility should tap into those and hopefully spur a startup ecosystem around them.
Techstars Mobility is now accepting applications. The program starts on June 9, 2015, with a demo day scheduled for September 10, 2015. I can’t wait.
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Matt Burns is a longtime technology journalist, now Editorial Director at Insight Media Group and formerly Managing Editor at TechCrunch. At Insight Media Group, he guides coverage and contributor programs across fast-growing tech publications. Before that, he spent 15+ years at TechCrunch, rising from contributor to Managing Editor, helping scale the newsroom and program Disrupt’s stages and TechCrunch’s other events. Earlier, he also wrote for Engadget. Matt co-founded the Resilience Conference, an event series at the intersection of defense, security, and startup innovation. There he builds agendas, hosts sessions, and launched “Launch @ Resilience,” a showcase for early-stage teams building nation-defending technology. Across roles, he’s reported on and moderated conversations in AI, mobility, frontier tech, and the hard problems technology companies face. He’s interviewed world leaders, top investors, startup founders, and public-company CEOs. Lifelong Michiganian with plenty of Silicon Valley miles, he brings Midwest empathy and an editor’s eye. Offstage, he works with teams to sharpen narrative and validate go-to-market plans, and, when possible, camping along Lake Michigan.