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When mHub opened its doors in Chicago seven years ago, the vision was to create a cultural incubator for people making things. It includes a prototyping lab, offices, co-working spaces, meeting rooms and classrooms. In those seven years, he says, the accelerator has supported more than 500 startups, 200 manufacturers, granted nearly 450 patents and helped create nearly 4,000 jobs. Now, it’s moving to a newly acquired, newly renovated space in Chicago’s Opportunity Zone, where more startups can develop, accelerate, and positively impact humanity. TechCrunch spoke with mHub CEO and Founder Haven Allen to find out what’s next for mHub and what makes Chicago its perfect home.
“It’s been quite a journey over the past six years; We’ve definitely evolved beyond the enclosure,” Allen said. “Today we have more than 250 startups. But we have manufacturers and teams like Keurig here, creating the next Keurig machine right out of our facilities. Both are very early stage, but some established ones are looking for a place like this where they can test new, latest tools, meet with investors and connect with talent to maximize product sales.
In terms of mHub, it has grown significantly from its current location, and the new hub offers everything startups and innovators and developers need in a perfect landscape.
“We wanted to be in the opportunity zone so we could attract more of the brand and bring more capital to the table,” Allen said. “We want to be in one of the plantation districts and have public transportation. And this hits the Venn diagram perfectly.”
Located at 240 N. Ashland on Chicago’s Near Westside, the new center was built to provide the facilities needed to support the development mHub is looking to grow.
“We’re going to build more labs around power technologies and specialized testing equipment, electronic equipment and new wet labs, more battery-related technologies,” Allen said. At our current location, we do not have private offices beyond some of our industry partners included here. So we can support some of these growing teams as they need more space as they build their teams and inventory.
mHub members working in the Fast Current Electronics Lab. Image Credits: mHub
In addition to the physical facilities it provides, mHub brings people together to foster creativity and communication.
“We have 600 engineers here, which is a tremendous resource for startups in the manufacturing community,” Allen said. “So there are a lot of contracts and collaborations that we facilitate with startups and also for short-term R&D projects out to industry.
As for Chicago itself, its combination of universities, diverse manufacturing economy, existing supply chain and ease of access across the country make it geographically ideal for an incubator like mHub and the startups they want to attract.
“We’re looking for products and founders who are trying to create things that we believe can impact humanity,” Allen said. Recognizing that we have climate issues, we rely on climate, energy, medical devices and sustainable manufacturing. And there are many ways to solve it. Human behavior doesn’t just seem one way, so how can technology drive some of the progress we need?
mHub supports startups through its incubator and accelerator program. The incubator program is open to anyone looking to build a business and feel mHub can support them. The speed selection process is more rigorous. It includes a selection committee of about 20 people drawn from investors, industry and people who lead manufacturing science at universities and national laboratories, and 19 criteria. But the decisive criteria are the novelty of their ideas, their understanding of their markets, their teams and their willingness to train.
“We bring the teams together around a thematic partnership with industry,” Allen said. “We’ll give each team $75,000 and $25,000 in engineering credits just to promote their product. Then we’ll power them for a six-month program, then we’ll have the full lab and resources for them to use for two years after that.”
mHub will launch its next round of climate and energy-focused startups on May 8.
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