RIHub seeing increased demand from startups

PROVIDENCE – When RIHub recently decided to offer monthly office hours for entrepreneurs, the nonprofit was responding to a surge in interest from startups.

“We’re seeing an uptick in the number of entrepreneurs who are reaching out to us wanting help, wanting to see what RIHub would do for them,” said Annette Tonti, RIHub managing director.

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In the past month, the handful of startups that usually come in for assistance has doubled, Tonti said.

“In the beginning we’d have three or four inbound startups that are interested” each month, she said. “Now, we’re seeing more like seven, eight every month. … We’re excited to see more people in Rhode Island learning about us and reaching out for help.”

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The office hours will be held for the first time from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 6 and continue the first Monday of each following month. During this time, entrepreneurs can drop in at the organization’s 225 Dyer St. location for assistance connecting with RIHub’s services and other innovators.

The recently announced service isn’t entirely new, Tonti said, noting that RIHub has previously worked with businesses on a walk-in basis. But by setting aside time to focus on interested startups, RIHub hopes to continue fostering increased interest in its services, such as six months of free incubation space in its building, which is at the Cambridge Innovation Center Providence location; mentoring; and connecting with relevant accelerator programs.

The move comes as various groups and officials look to boost Rhode Island’s profile as a hub for innovation, whether that means supporting local entrepreneurs or attracting innovators from outside the state into Providence.

“We’re here to grow startup businesses in Rhode Island and keep them here and let them grow globally,” Tonti said, “but we want them to establish their operations here in Rhode Island.”

One business to recently move its operations to Rhode Island, with help from RIHub, is GreenChoice, a grocery search engine and soon-to-be virtual marketplace that helps connect consumers with health- and climate-conscious food.

GreenChoice founder and CEO Galen Karlan-Mason, who is originally from Vermont, launched the startup’s mobile app in late 2019 while based in Boston. After returning to Vermont for over a year due to the pandemic, Karlan-Mason decided to make the move to Providence, where he had formed connections as a member of the MassChallenge Rhode Island’s 2019 cohort.

So far, Karlan-Mason has embraced the shift, and has worked out of one of RIHub’s office spaces since June.

Providence is “much smaller than Boston, but it’s got a great energy and a very supportive community that felt very inviting and entrepreneur-friendly,” Karlan-Mason said.

Providence was also attractive to an entrepreneur “coming out of the heat of the pandemic and looking to move to a place where there’s an affordable cost of living, good talent in the area, interest in supporting young founders and some fellow founders doing good work,” he added.

Karlan-Mason has also noted increasing activity in the RIHub space.

“I think it was fairly quiet when I got here in the CIC building in general,” he said. But over one and a half years into the pandemic with COVID-19 protocols in place, and with the recently held Startup Week still on people’s minds, Karlan-Mason has observed “an influx in other founders.”

At RIHub and beyond, Karlan-Mason also said that the area has a “tightly knit community that’s interested in supporting (startup) ventures.”

Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.