San Antonio is experiencing a boom in startup activity. The downtown co-working community at Geekdom has grown to over 1,700 members since it opened its doors in 2011. Newly announced programs for entrepreneurially minded founders include incubators, pre-accelerators, accelerators, even a civically engaged residency program with the City of San Antonio.
To help you keep track, let’s look at the three basic categories of resources any startup founder will eventually look for when starting a business: co-working spaces, startup programs, and investors in San Antonio.
San Antonio Co-Working Spaces
What are the different options for co-working spaces in San Antonio?
San Antonio has a variety of available co-working spaces that suit a founder’s needs for location, access, budget, benefits, and vibe. Co-working spaces offer startups the opportunity to work in a shared working environment. Many smaller companies not belonging to the same organization typically co-habit the space. Using co-working spaces offers an affordable option for those first starting a company. Many co-working spaces provide added benefits such as working alongside other members of a startup community, conference meeting spaces, mailboxes, and event space.
Here are the co-working spaces currently available in San Antonio:
- Geekdom
- Venture X
- The Workery
- The Impact Guild
- Alamo City Studios
- Cubes at the Quonset
- CO | LAB Coworking Space
- Legacy Office Centers
- LiftOff
- Moade Center
- Common Space
- VenturePoint (two locations)
- Regus (multiple locations)
Startup Programs such as Incubators, Accelerators
San Antonio’s list of boot camps, incubators, and accelerators is growing. Startup boot camps can be an entry into the startup community by teaching basic skills in entrepreneurship or by acting like highly compressed incubators. An incubator primarily aims to help the entrepreneur vet, validate, and refine their proposed solution. An accelerator generally takes a small percentage of equity in exchange for small amounts of capital and mentorship over the course of a coaching program ranging from three to six months.
San Antonio’s startup incubators, accelerators, and other entrepreneurial programs include those listed below and does not include entrepreneurial programs specifically designed for students.
- Three-Day Startup San Antonio is an intense weekend entrepreneurial short-format program.
- Patriot Boot Camp is a startup boot camp for military members.
- The EPIcenter incubator for sustainable energy startups launched in early 2018.
- San Antonio Incubator for Clean Energy Startups is run by the University of Texas at San Antonio.
- InCube Labs biotech incubator works with promising bioscience startup companies.
- BuildSec Foundry is an incubator for cybersecurity startups based at Geekdom.
- Geekdom’s pre-accelerator program launched in April 2018.
- VelocityTX has several incubator and accelerator programs available.
- Scaleworks is an aggregator, investor, and accelerator for business-to-business SaaS [software-as-a-
service] startups. - The RealCo 15-month accelerator program is headquartered out of Geekdom with a second location in Colorado.
- Break Fast & Launch is the first culinary startup accelerator in the U.S.
- The TMCx medical tech innovation program offers shared workspace, curriculum tailored to healthcare entrepreneurs and access to over 120 specialized mentors.
- Maestro Entrepreneur Center offers a mentored accelerated program for entrepreneurs.
- LiftFund Women’s Business Center has multiple resources for female entrepreneurs.
- LaunchSA partners with LiftFund and the San Antonio Economic Development Department to offer programs and mentorship.
- One Million Cups provides networking and support for entrepreneurs.
- Bunker Labs offers military members, veterans, and their families entrepreneurial resources and programs.
- SCORE (San Antonio chapter) is a source of mentoring for small business owners.
- UTSA’s Small Business Development Center offers programs for entrepreneurs, not just their students.
- CivTechSA offers residencies for startups working to address civic challenges for the City of San Antonio.
Investors and other Venture Capital Sources in San Antonio
There are over 50 San Antonio-based investors listed in the Alamo Angel’s investor directory. Also, there are other venture funds, investors, and possible sources of funding such as loans in San Antonio.
- Geekdom Fund
- HOLT Ventures
- Fraser-McCombs Capital
- USAA
- Targeted Technologies
- Scaleworks Venture Finance Fund
- LiftFund
- InCube Ventures
- SAEDF
- Live Oak Ventures Texas early stage venture capital fund
- Central Texas Angel Network
- Active Capital is based in Texas, but will invest in founders across the US.
- See also Silicon Hills Lawyer’s website listing of investors interested in Texas startups.
Be sure to visit our Startups Resources page for this and other helpful information for San Antonio-based entrepreneurs.
