Labs to positively impact Georgia entrepreneurs, enterprises
(Marietta, GA) August 20, 2018 IgniteHQ, an ecosystem of startups, investors and enterprises, is pleased to announce the launch of two new labs. The first lab will be dedicated to social innovation and impact investing. The second lab will focus on the region’s participation in the global development of new blockchain and cryptoeconomic solutions.
Both labs will be accessible at IgniteHQ’s Marietta headquarters as well as through its formal partnerships with various other innovation centers and coworking facilities statewide.
“The Social Innovation Lab and the Blockchain/Cryptoeconomics Lab will vertically consolidate resources for startups, investors, professionals, students, coders, researchers, product and tech development shops and corporations coming together to collaborate using IgniteHQ as the platform for engagement,” explained Mark Hubbard, IgniteHQ’s President and CEO.
The labs will also partner with larger enterprises to explore and test new products, at-scale solutions, and business models.
Additionally, IgniteHQ plans to offer paid fellowships to select entrepreneurs accepted into the labs as well as provide access to specially designed curriculum and programming.
“The industries these labs represent are comprised of exceptionally diverse, yet intensely specialized stakeholders. Impact Investors differ in many important ways from other Venture or Angel Investors, and deal structures sometimes look nothing like a normal funding round. Similarly, participants in the Blockchain/Crypto world have interests and philosophies that are particular to that market,” explained Mark Hubbard, IgniteHQ President and CEO.
“IgniteHQ already has strong relationships with pioneers and leaders in both Social Impact and Blockchain/Crypto, and we want to leverage those resources to serve the entrepreneurs, innovators, and enterprises of the state of Georgia,” noted Alfredo Narez, President of m1six and IgniteHQ Advisor in Residence.
Entrepreneurs and multinational corporations are looking for creative and substantive ways to impact social change and derive financial gain. According to the Global Impact Investment Network 2018 Annual Impact Investor Survey, the worldwide Social Innovation and Impact Investment markets are growing robustly with the majority of investment made in the United States and Canada. According to some estimates, the impact investment market is valued at $9 trillion in the U.S. alone.
Blockchain and Cryptoeconomics sit at the cutting edge of the technology world with an expectation that the solutions made possible will fundamentally disrupt entire industries in the coming years. The blockchain market is expected to be more than $60 billion by 2024. Research from Gartner says that 300 million blockchain transactions were processed through the end of 2017.
IgniteHQ connects startups and entrepreneurs with international accelerators, funding opportunities and talent to scale globally. We accelerate startups, cultivate job growth and provide market expansion resources in the Southeast. IgniteHQ was developed in partnership with Kennesaw State University, the third-largest university in the State of Georgia with more than 35,000 students, and in collaboration with the Cobb Chamber, one of the top three chambers in the nation.