Google Selects Durham as Part of Tech Hub Network
By Jason Parker, WRALTechWire
The American Tobacco Historic District in Durham is one of seven sites selected to be part of Googles new "Entrepreneurs Tech Hub Network." Centers will receive financial support, technology, equipment and discounts to various Google product offerings.
The news was announced at an event in Durham as well as in Chicago. Google will be partnering in the Bull City with the American Underground, which is based at American Tobacco and offers shared office facilities to startups as well as service providers focused on new and emerging companies.
The program is an attempt to create a nationwide network of entrepreneurs, the Internet giant said.
Today is the formal launch of the Tech Hub Network, said Mary Grove, director of Google for Entrepreneurs, to create a central resource to support entrepreneurs.
The company selected Durham along with Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Nashville, and Waterloo, Canada, as cities in which Google for Entrepreneurs will partner with pre-existing entrepreneurial resources, said Grove.
The partnership stemmed from discussions between the Google for Entrepreneurs team and the team at American Underground, led by chief strategist Adam Klein.
For such a transformative technology company to establish a presence here, said Dov Cohn, co-founder and CEO of PopUp, an American Underground company, is fantastic and it's great validation of what we've built here. Google will bring to bear resources that entrepreneurs here have not previously had access to in the region.
The two-year partnership began as soon as the press announcement was made at 11 a.m. eastern time on Wednesday, September 25, 2013, though it's not the first time that Google has been involved in the Triangle. The tech giant hosted a Google for Entrepreneurs Day earlier in the year, said Grove, which was their true entry point into the community, and where her team first met Klein.
While Durham is smaller than some of the other selected metro areas, it's both a strength and an asset for the area, Klein said. In Chicago or New York, said Klein, there may be a few thousand companies, but they're spread out over a vast and disorganized land mass.
Durham's size results in an incredibly dense network of startups in a relatively small geographic space, said Klein, and this was appealing to Google.
Durham was always on our list of top cities, said Grove, who has yet to visit the region but indicated a strong desire to do so. We've been really excited about the nexus of startup talent and energy in the region.
Klein was in Chicago for the announcement.
We're building on a legacy, said Klein, in a video message to an audience of more than a hundred people gathered at Bay 7 in downtown Durham for the multi-city announcement, and what could be bigger than having Google involved?
The partnership between American Underground and Google for Entrepreneurs is designed to provide the Triangle's entrepreneurs greater access to Google products, talent, and developer kits.
Google is planning to roll out quarterly events, where they'll demonstrate new products, said Klein, as well as monthly developer meetings to provide entrepreneurs the opportunity to interact with Google's developers to sharpen and hone their coding ability.
In addition, each American Underground tenant will receive a Google software pack that contains discounts and free products and licenses.
In making this decision, Google is validating what is going on in the Triangle, said Klein, and we now have points of contact and a platform from which we can speak to Google.
It's also validating the mission and strategy of American Underground, said Klein, who seeks to engage corporate divisions and companies to assist in the startup ecosystem in the Triangle.
I hope that this partnership creates good energy and catalyzes the kinds of conversations that matter, said Klein, the ones that enables disruption in technology industries.
Three years ago, said Klein, he couldn't fathom that Durham's startup ecosystem would be where it is today.
More than anything, this announcement is a testament to the startups in Durham and in the Triangle, Klein said.
The announcement had been embargoed but was reported in advance by a newspaper in Nashville.
The American Underground recently expanded to a second location in Durham called Underground@Main. Another facility is being constructed in Raleigh.
Thanks to WRALTechWires Jason Parker for this capcom story.
--
POSTED: September 26, 2013
Close Window
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
Google Selects Durham as Part of Tech Hub Network
