Tampa, Florida, March 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Startup hub, Embarc Collective, is celebrating its fifth anniversary of its globally recognized program supporting Florida-based technology and tech-enabled entrepreneurs and startup teams. Having launched in 2019 with 25 member startup companies, Embarc Collective has gone on to serve 220 Florida-based startups, which have created nearly 1,000 net new jobs.
The startup support program at Embarc Collective is best known for its ongoing coaching from a team of seasoned startup operators and its relevant group programming informed by the needs of the membership. Over 5 years, Embarc Collective has delivered over 6,000 hours of 1:1 coaching to its startup membership and nearly 400 workshops specifically curated to address the goals and challenges of the Embarc Collective startup community. In 2020, Embarc Collective opened its physical facility in downtown Tampa creating a central landing zone for the local tech community, which is home to Embarc Collective’s startup membership and over 200 public events annually on entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation. In 2023, Embarc Collective was ranked as one of two startup support organizations in North America recognized as a top program in the world by UBI Global, a Swedish benchmarking study.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 50% of startups are in business after five years. Additional figures from equity management platform Carta reveal that the startup shutdown rate increased by 50% between 2022 and 2023. Staying in business past the 5-year threshold is a milestone to be celebrated. Therefore, it is a remarkable achievement that 24 of the original 25 member companies of Embarc Collective are still in business or have been acquired. These startups are shattering expectations, bucking national survival trends, and have become instrumental in driving job growth and bolstering the economy, not just in Florida, but serving as an example of entrepreneurial resilience and success across the entire nation.
"I wish something like Embarc would have existed when I started ReliaQuest,” said Brian Murphy, Embarc Collective Board Chair and founder and CEO of ReliaQuest, a global cybersecurity company. "Entrepreneurship is brutally difficult, which is why many startups don't make it past the first few years. Lakshmi and the team at Embarc understand what entrepreneurship is really about. They know how to support serious founders who are willing to put in the work. I'm looking forward to seeing many more companies make it to scale thanks to Embarc's support."
“Entrepreneurs affiliated with Embarc Collective are linked by the drive and focus required to endure the ups and downs of startup building,” said Embarc Collective CEO Lakshmi Shenoy. “We are proud of how Embarc Collective has evolved to remain relevant to those high-growth startups’ changing needs and challenges; 60% of the 25 original companies are still members of Embarc Collective because we have evolved our support to adapt to their changing needs.”
“Building a startup is difficult, and the Embarc Collective coaching team has been by my side helping me hit my specific milestones over the past 5 years, said Celeste Gruman, CEO of data science learning platform Dataquest. Since joining as a member of Embarc Collective in 2019, Celeste has been promoted to the CEO role at Dataquest, and the company has recently released a new certification in Generative AI Fundamentals.
Embarc Collective will celebrate its 5th anniversary and recognize the accomplishments of its membership during its annual Leadership Summit for Embarc Collective member startups in May, appropriately themed “Outlast.” To learn about the original members of Embarc Collective still operating today, see our blog. For more information about upcoming opportunities and events at Embarc Collective, sign up for The Weekly Collective.
About Embarc Collective
Embarc Collective, a 501c3 non-profit, is a central landing zone for the most driven and focused startup builders in Florida, ranked as a top startup support program in the world by UBI Global. Embarc Collective offers on-demand coaching and programming led by startup veterans for 125+ tech companies operating within an award-winning 32,000-square-foot hub in Tampa, Florida.
