Innovation Pavilion Aims To Become ‘WeWork’ For The Suburbs Of 20 U.S. Cities

Centennial-based Innovation Pavilion has landed investor backing and a new chairman for an ambitious drive to create entrepreneurial campuses and neighborhoods for millennial workers in at least 20 suburban cities around the U.S.

The company is best known for its 80,000-square-foot entrepreneurial hub for the south metro area — part startup incubator, co-working space and gathering spot for tech groups such as TechrIoT, an “internet of things” entrepreneurs group.

But Innovation Pavilion sees the opportunity to start walkable technology campuses to draw millennials to live and work in suburban cities, playing a role in suburbs similar to what co-working giant WeWork and similar companies are doing in urban centers, said Vic Ahmed, founder and CEO of Innovation Pavilion.

“There’s a groundswell of interest in second and third-tier cities. It’s not just in the downtowns of cities, it’s also in suburban cities,” Ahmed said. “Our campus model of live-work-play fits in very well.”

A key component will be working with local communities to incorporate existing amenities into or adjacent to campuses, and partnering with developers to build millennial housing, restaurant and shops, he said.

Technology industry veteran Stephen Pearse, a principal at Yucatan Rock Ventures venture capital firm, becomes chairman of the Innovation Pavilion board and will help lead the organization, the company announced Wednesday.

Pearse led a funding round of $1 million into Innovation Pavilion, Ahmed said, and the company is immediately looking to raise $20 million to $30 million for its expansion.

Innovation Pavilion has negotiated in Parker and Olathe, Kansas for the past couple years to start the first two Innovation Pavilion campuses.

In Parker, Ahmed’s said he’s been in talks with local economic developers and real estate developers.

He envisions creating some millennial housing and an entrepreneurial hub within easy walking distance of the Parker Arts, Culture and Events center and a hoped-for Douglas County library that has co-working, maker spaces and video-production studios.

Having a tech entrepreneurship hub near such community amenities will draw retail and help a suburb such as Parker appeal to skilled workers in their 20s and 30s, Ahmed said.

More than 20 cities have inquired about Innovation Pavilion’s model since it started talks with Olathe and Parker. Last week Innovation Pavilion started making contact with dozens of suburban cities the could become partners in projects, Ahmed said.

He looks at the investor backing of New York City-based WeWork, an international co-working and business hub that opened two downtown Denver locations in the past year, as a sign that there’s room for a company to be the tech and entrepreneurship catalyst in suburbs losing their millennial population to nearby urban areas.

Pearse is a former CEO of Cyras Systems, a fiber-optic technology company that sold to Ciena Corp. for $1.1 billion in 2001. Since then, he’s been an executive, investor and on the board of startups including Boulder-based Revolv, a home automation company that sold to Google-owned Nest in 2014.

Ahmed said Pearse and he talked about Innovation Pavilion’s vision this spring. Pearse urged him to think even bigger bigger, and having Pearse on the board should help those ambitions, Ahmed said.

“He brings such a depth of contacts and know-how, he just changes the game,” Ahmed said.

Pearse was drawn to get involved with Innovation Pavilion because its original campus in Centennial has proven to be a much-needed center for entrepreneurs, he said.

It serves as a work space for small companies, hosts events, organizes entrepreneurial mentoring and attracts tech training to bolster the local work force. It’s drawn partnerships with big companies such as Arrow Electronics as well as gatherings of startups.

Economic developers in suburban communities get excited by the prospect of having a place with a similar impact in their cities, and they’re willing to help get Innovation Pavilion campuses started, Pearse said.

He envisions Innovation Pavilion investing in projects over the next several years, and he expects it will attract investor interest.

“This is clearly a growth area,” Pearse said.

Source: Denver Business Journal, Greg Avery
Photo: Vic Ahmed, co-founder and CEO of Innovation Pavilion, based in Centennial. (Kathleen Lavine, Denver Business Journal)