Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Spotlight: Columbia, SC

Columbia, SC ranks number two of the TOP 10 Cities with the Lowest Startup Costs.
(source- smartasset.com, September, 2015)

Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the state of South Carolina. Columbia, also known as Cola Town, is also the home of the University of South Carolina, which was formed in 1801. It is located at the junction of the Saluda and Broad Rivers, which merge at Columbia becoming the Congaree River. It is the home of Fort Jackson, the country’s largest Army base providing basic combat training. According to a September, 2015 study by smartasset.com, Columbia, SC ranks number two on their listing of the TOP 10 Cities with the Lowest Startup Costs. Only Chattanooga, TN ranks higher.

Based on this ranking, Funding$age has reviewed the resources that make up Columbia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem:

Entrepreneurial Meetups:

Columbia Entrepreneurship Meetup
Helps early stage startups connect with and pitch to local investors, collaborate with industry thought leaders and share advice and resources.
Startup Grind Columbia, SC:
According to Startup Grind they are “an event series and website designed to help educate, inspire, and connect local entrepreneurs.”
The Iron Yard Columbia
They exist to “create exceptional growth and mentorship for people and their ideas through tech-focused education.”

Regular Entrepreneurial Events:

1 Million Cups – Columbia, SC
A national program with a local reach designed to educate, engage and connect entrepreneurs.
Startup Grind Columbia, SC
According to Startup Grind they are “an event series and website designed to help educate, inspire, and connect local entrepreneurs.”
engenuitySC
“focused on building partnerships around five indicators of competitive communities; innovative capacity, talent, entrepreneurial / business environment, livability and strong industry clusters.”

Startup Competitions:

Startup Weekend Columbia
A local chapter of the global Startup Weekend movement. Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend.

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Co-working Space:

SOCO
They are building a platform which provides compelling spaces, where incredible people can work together, and incredible events and activities can help people connect to hone their skills, grow their crafts and build things the world needs.
Richland Library
Offers a free, fully equipped, self-service workspace with a library’s resources at the fingertips in downtown Columbia.

Maker Space:

Cola Maker Space
A new maker Space under development in Columbia. They think it sounds fantastic so they’re making it happen!

Incubators / Accelerators:

SC Launch’s SCRA USC Innovation Center
“A newly renovated facility designed to accommodate business offices and clean next-generation manufacturing operations.”
USC Columbia Technology Incubator
Provides space, education, mentors, and meaningful networking to new and growing area companies.

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Colleges / Universities:

Benedict College Incubator Program
A general purpose incubator which provides minority entrepreneurs assistance and nurturing through the critical stages of business development, from growth to expansion.
Faber Entrepreneurship Center
At the Darla Moore School of Business at USC “is helping to develop USC’s entrepreneurship program as we encourage and prepare our students to take their entrepreneurial skills into the new global economy.”
McNair Center for Entrepreneurialism
Columbia College has as a mission to “create and sustain an entrepreneurial ecosystem within the College that provides education, apprenticeships, mentoring, capital access and professional skills development to students.”

Angel Groups / VCs:

Capital Angels
The South Carolina Angel Network affiliate in the Midlands area.
South Carolina Angel Network
An affiliation of various angel groups from South Carolina and Western North Carolina who work together to support early stage companies from around the region.
Southland Capital Partners
Their goal is to “acquire and transform companies in SC and beyond with proven products or services and significant growth potential.” They are a merchant banking firm with a focus on traditional private equity, later stage startups and advisory services.

Entrepreneurial Newsletter Coverage:

InnoVenture
Promotes the progress of regional entrepreneurial companies though their weekly “SwampFox” newsletter.
SC Technology Alliance
Provides among other things, articles and a technology news segment to the region.

Other:

IT-ology
Believes “in helping you discover your role in information technology and equipping you with the knowledge and tools to achieve your ideal career.”
SC Technology Alliance’s
Their mission is to make SC prosper in the 21^st century “as a recognized leader in attracting, creating, growing and retaining world-class technology intensive companies while preserving our excellent quality of life, strong work ethic and exceptional business environment.”

Are you familiar with entrepreneurial ecosystem infrastructure in Columbia not included in the article above? If so, let us know via a comment below and we will add it to the article.

Interested in Ecosystem Spotlights of other cities in the southeast, USA?

Augusta, Georgia, Knoxville, Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee

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Definitioner

HTTP

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

Bounce Rate

Website

An organized property made up of a group of connected pages on the World Wide Web, (Internet) that are considered a single entity.⁶

Funding

This term is used synonymously with the words “financing” and “capital.” It refers to the amount of money that is needed for a business endeavor. For example, a new business owner may seek a certain amount of funding for their startup company. This “raised” capital can be used to launch their endeavor as well as to sustain their company until monetary profit can be generated.⁴

Startup

A startup is a new business venture / enterprise in its initial or early stages of development. These stages include the concept, seed, early, growth and mezzanine stages.⁶

Equity

Ownership in the capital of a Company. In corporations, it is called “stock”; in limited partnerships or LLCs, it is called “interests” or “units.”³
This designation is given to a stockholder’s ownership in a company. The amount of ownership is obtained when an individual or corporation purchases one or more shares of stock (equity shares). The more equity purchased, the greater the ownership.⁴

Early Stage

The key characteristic is market development. The business is focused on sales and marketing and proving business viability.²
A state of a company that typically has completed its seed stage and has a founding or core senior management team, has proven its concept or completed its beta test, has minimal revenues, and no positive earnings or cash flows.³
This term generally refers to a young enterprise that is three years old or younger. During this phase, a company is still in its novel stages of development. They could be in the process of experimenting with new products or services that they intend to market in the near future and/or may have viable products that are already available to the public.⁴

Private Equity

A company ownership position that is not listed and cannot be traded on a public securities exchange. Issuance, ownership and exchange of private securities are regulated differently from those of public securities under federal and state law.¹
Equity securities of companies that have not “gone public” (are not listed on a public exchange). Private equities are generally illiquid and thought of as a long-term investment. As they are not listed on an exchange, any investor wishing to sell securities in private companies must find a buyer in the absence of a marketplace. In addition, there are many transfer restrictions on private securities. Investors in private securities generally receive their return through one of three ways: an initial public offering, a sale or merger, or a recapitalization.³
Private equities are equity securities of unlisted companies. Private equities are generally illiquid and thought of as a long-term investment. Private equity investments are not subject to the same high level of government regulation as stock offerings to the general public. Private equity is also far less liquid than publicly traded stock.⁵

Incubator

An organization established to support the development of startup companies with intermediate term access, (1 - 3 years) to facilities, (office and lab space), resources and development programs, potentially including mentoring. Incubators differ from accelerators in that the latter typically focus on acceleration of growth in a shorter defined period whereas the former is focused on the development of the company and its product over a longer time period.⁶

Capital

Financial capital is a term that can refer to the money exchanged between entrepreneurs and investors during a business deal. Entrepreneurs need to raise capital for their startups while investors can provide them with the needed capital (or funding). Financial capital usually comes with interest, and new business owners can use their financial capital in purchasing real capital (or machinery or equipment) for their new business.⁴

INFOGRAPHICS