Colorado Startup Week Concludes Its 15th Year

Last week, Downtown Denver became the epicenter of entrepreneurship as Colorado Startup Week concluded its 15th year as an event and its second year under its expanded title that encompasses the innovative spirit of the entire state. The event drew nearly 10,000 attendees from Denver, across Colorado, and around the world, with participants and speakers traveling from as far as New Zealand, Japan and France.

As Titan Sponsor and lead producer of the Week, the Downtown Denver Partnership released its 2026 State of Tech Report in conjunction with the event. The report highlighted an opportunity for Denver to build on Colorado’s strong entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem amid a rapidly changing market. In 2025, Colorado attracted $7.4 billion in venture capital across 401 deals, its second-highest year on record, and ranked first nationally in education and sixth in technology and innovation. In Denver, 1,500 tech startups and 7,200 tech employees account for 13% of downtown businesses, while the city ranked 10th nationally for tech talent.

Colorado continues to benefit from a highly educated workforce and a diverse base of strong industries. At the same time, several trends are shaping the outlook for 2026, including venture capital concentrating in fewer, larger deals and AI reshaping how companies hire, operate, and scale. To remain competitive, Colorado and Denver will need to continue adapting to these shifts while building on the strengths of their existing entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems.

The weeklong celebration of innovation showcased the state's startup ecosystem with more than 40 HQ Stage programs, 200-plus community events, and over a dozen happy hours.

David Welsh, Executive Vice President of Economic Development & Real Estate, joined the panel "Catalyst Downtown: Creating the Ecosystem for Denver's Next Generation of Startups," alongside Aikta Marcoulier, Chief Business Development Officer for the Department of Economic Development & Opportunity, City and County of Denver, and Ken Christensen, Chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver. The panel explored how strategic partnerships between government, higher education, business, and entrepreneurs are establishing Downtown Denver as a hub for startups and emerging industries, touching on the city's new office incentive program, CU Denver's plans to transform Independence Plaza into an innovation hub that will connect students, founders, investors and employers and bolster economic and workforce development.

President and CEO Kourtny Garrett closed her kickoff keynote remarks on an optimistic note, pointing to what's ahead for Downtown Denver: "Denver has a real opportunity to be the place where talent, capital, and companies choose to locate, launch, and grow. A successful startup ecosystem isn't built by one program, one university, or one investor. It's built through a network. Denver's opportunity right now is to take the strengths we already have, the talent, research institutions, quality of life, industry clusters, and a genuine entrepreneurial culture and connect them more intentionally than we ever have before." 

Similarly, Governor Jared Polis’s remarked at the Keynote Kickoff, “Coloradans are building some of the most successful companies in the world out of garages, basements, and coworking spaces right here in our state… That’s the spirit of Colorado Startup Week, and it’s that spirit which helps drive innovation and growth in Colorado’s economy."

The success of Colorado Startup Week demonstrates the depth and breadth of Colorado's startup ecosystem. By expanding beyond Denver while maintaining downtown as its central hub, the Week created opportunities for entrepreneurs from communities of all sizes to connect with the broader innovation network and access the resources that can fuel their growth.

For more on Colorado Startup Week, visit www.costartupweek.com.

Want more from the leaders of Colorado Startup Week? PBS12 | The Business of Colorado conducted 12 interviews with leaders in the space throughout the week. Watch the interviews here: https://pbs12.co/CSW-2026.