By Kelly Kim Miller
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Startup Village is a new initiative by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Arkansas that helps new startups and non-profit ventures with free office space.
“For a lot of companies…office space is a burden…buying it is expensive to rent, so we really want to fill that need,” Kyle Sadler, the undergraduate Director of Startup Village, said.
More Technologies is one of the first companies to make its home in the Hathcock building located on Block and Dickson. The startup was founded in March of 2018 in an apartment on the University of Arkansas campus. Thanks to the office space provided by Startup Village, the More Technologies team can focus on the company’s growth without having to keep up with paying rent.
“Startup village really changed the course of our company,” Peyton Smith, cofounder of More Technologies, said.
Sadler said that more tech companies are expected to move in such as Genome X, a company that makes genome sequencing, and Shop Timely, which does price comparisons with retailers online.
Startup Village is a quiet building with empty rooms at this time, but Sadler said that it will grow.
“Long term. We want to make this a community of U of A entrepreneurs and innovators. Yea, focusing on the community aspect is really important,” Sadler said.