Money in the Mountains: Elevate Incubator Helps Asheville Startups Raise $50 Million in Capital
The City of Asheville may have a population under 100,000, but the startup scene in town certainly punches above its weight. In 2022, LinkedIn ranked Asheville as the seventh fastest-growing tech hub in the nation.
Venture Asheville and its Elevate program played an important role in building up the city’s tech industry. Between its founding in 2015 and the beginning of 2023, tech startups that have gone through Venture Asheville’s mentorship-based incubator have raised $50 million in capital and generated over $100 million in revenue.
On top of those monetary statistics, Elevate portfolio companies have left a mark on the local Asheville economy. The 70 startups in the Elevate portfolio have created 360 new full-time jobs with an average salary of $78,000.
The Elevate portfolio companies range from B2B SaaS platforms to unique food and beverage brands to technology designed specifically for brewers. Part of Elevate’s success to date is that they have pivoted the program to fit the unique needs of Asheville’s business community. On top of serving high-tech ideas, Elevate helps tech-enabled businesses find new ways to scale. That has helped unique Asheville brands like Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn (which recently raised $3 million), No Evil Foods, and French Broad Chocolates grow.
Jeffrey Kaplan, Director of Venture Asheville, says that the methodology behind the Elevate program has helped put Asheville’s tech scene on the map. The program is modeled after the MIT Venture Mentoring Service (MIT VMS).
“We believe that mentorship, experiential learning and competency assessments are essential tools for founders seeking to build resilient and sustainable businesses. Investing in this community of founders is a smart long-term strategy, as these entrepreneurs will become our region’s future philanthropists, civic leaders and possibly elected officials,” said Kaplan.
Growing Asheville Tech
We spoke to Kaplan last summer about how Asheville’s tech scene grew with the rise of remote work.
“People in Asheville are adamant about supporting local. It’s in the water here,” Kaplan said. “What I find about Asheville is nobody just ends up here. People choose to be here very intentionally. And that leads to an incredibly giving culture.”
That has helped homegrown ventures like Ecobot grow, but it has also attracted a new wave of business owners relocate to the city over the last three years. That includes Netmaker, a Y Combinator-backed startup focused on securing cloud networks.
If you're not in Asheville but want to meet some of the innovators building in the city, you can check out the fun and informative Talking ‘Ship podcast to learn more about the startups scaling right now in the "Beer City USA."
