Fostering Downtown's Culture of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The Downtown Denver Partnership is ensuring Downtown Denver is the best place in the country to start and grow your business.

Your business and voice are critical to strengthening Downtown Denver as the economic core of our region for years to come. By choosing Downtown Denver as the place to startup and grow, you are accessing a entrepreneurial ecosystem that operates in the currency of generosity, is supported by the entire business community, and is energized by a talented and growing workforce.

Startup Stats

  • 5,140 people work for 772 tech startups in the center city
  • More than 8 percent of center city businesses are tech startups
  • Startups raised more than $598 million in venture capital in the last year
  • 163 startups were founded in the center city in the past year
  • Read more in the 2018 Downtown Denver Startup Report

The Downtown Denver Partnership has co-founded and leads several programs and initiatives to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in our center city, including:

Denver Startup Week is the largest free entrepreneurial event in North America, co-founded by the Downtown Denver Partnership

Denver Startup Week

The Downtown Denver Partnership co-founded Denver Startup Week in 2012, and it is now the largest free entrepreneurial event of its kind in North America. In 2017, 18,900 people registered to attend 376 free sessions, and the week-long event drew participants from 48 states, furthering Downtown Denver's reputation as the best place in the country to start and grow a business. With 100 million social media impressions, Denver Startup Week also elevates us on a national - and global - stage. The seventh annual event will take place Sept. 24 - 28, 2018.

The Commons on Champa, co-founded by the Downtown Denver Partnership

The Commons on Champa

The Downtown Denver Partnership co-founded The Commons on Champa in 2015 to provide resources, inspiration and meeting spaces for Denver's diverse community of entrepreneurs. The Partnership leads a series of signature programs at The Commons, with support from the Kauffman Foundation, to provide personal conversations, meaningful mentorship, and business education at a low- or no-cost to grow an authentic, community-based plateform to help business start and grow.

Denver Startup Week is the largest free entrepreneurial event in North America, co-founded by the Downtown Denver Partnership

Entrepreneurial Resource Navigator

The Commons on Champa is also home to the Denver Entrepreneurial Resource Navigator to provide a regional referral network linking entrepreneurs to resource partners who provide services to help business grow. The navigator was produced in partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and U.S. SourceLink.

Learn More About Downtown Denver's Startup Scene