Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Development to enter into a grant agreement with Rev1 Ventures in an amount up to $1,875,000.00 for the purpose of providing rent support per section 2 of the Memorandum of Understanding authorized by Columbus City Council on December 16, 2024, per Ordinance Number 3275-2024 in furtherance of the 2022 Downtown Strategic Plan. Authorization is also requested to advance funds per a predetermined schedule to be included in the agreement.
Rev1 Ventures, formerly known as TechColumbus, is a seed stage venture development organization that combines investment capital and strategic services to help entrepreneurs build products that people want and companies that succeed. Rev1 Ventures led a successful regional proposal to the State of Ohio to secure $18.7 million for the Entrepreneurial Signature Program (ESP) which accelerated the creation and growth of new technology companies in Central Ohio. The ESP Program includes early-stage capital to meet the needs for pre-seed capital for Ohio start-up technology companies. The City of Columbus has been in support of the ESP since 2007 by providing financial support.
Rev1 Ventures is currently located in two separate sites in Columbus at 1590 N. High Street, Suite 200 (the “Rev1 Gateway”) and 1275 Kinnear Road Commission (the “Rev1 Labs”) with limited space for future expansion to increase the number of start-up and growth companies subleasing space from Rev1 Ventures.
Rev1 Ventures, per the Memorandum of Understanding and in furtherance of the 2022 Downtown Strategic Plan, has agreed to relocate its Rev1 Gateway and Rev1 Labs operations and staff to the office building located at 330 Rush Alley on Franklin County Parcel No. 010-300602 (“Rev1 Downtown”) to establish a downtown campus for themselves and associated start-up and growth companies. The goal of relocating to Rev1 Downtown is to continue to reinforce the value of downtown as...
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