TechSTL 2022-2023 Annual Report

2022-2023 ANNUAL REPORT

March 2022 - April 2023 TechSTL.com

Presented by Emily Hemingway, Executive Director

A Note from Our Founding Director

Even though TechSTL is a nonprofit, this first year we have behaved more like a tech startup than a charitable or government organization. Founded under a U.S. EDA SPRINT Challenge Grant and under the direction of the St. Louis Development Corporation, our inaugural year in operation still followed the path of running lean, navigating customer discovery, and determining market validation for our 501(c)(6). Our small team has practiced the art of staying curious, embracing risk, building fast, and pivoting often in order to find our place in the community. And after 12 months I can now validate two important things; something transformative is happening in St. Louis and TechSTL plays a part in it.

Now, this has been an extremely busy time for us. We started this journey with a monumental task, a staff of 1, a small budget, and a very short runway. But thanks to the passion of our robust and diverse network of 388 founding members, TechSTL has proven that when the work is right and the community is ready, you don't need as much as you think to start doing good work. You simply need to start.

Over the past year, the St. Louis region has shown us the spaces where we belong and the results have been beyond inspiring. Tasked with addressing a series of complex challenges over a 15-county bi-state region, we knew that our systems needed to be smart and scalable, so we jumped immediately into building them. Facing a fragmented network of silos and verticals, we owned our ability to become a horizontal bridge and developed inclusive cross-sector partner networks to facilitate strategic planning and asset mapping. In the wake of the pandemic, it was clear that the ecosystem needed a new "center of gravity" for high-energy community building to reactivate the innovation and business network, so we started hosting events until we figured out what worked

Now with a network of over 30,000 people and having successfully hosted over 120 events, we can confirm how eager the innovation community is to reengage. Top that with the strategic planning traction we are seeing in our affinity groups, ecosystem networks, and cluster networks, and it is clear that these are the spaces where TechSTL can drive impact in the region. As we enter year two of this journey, we are now equipped to start bringing our STEM Scholarship Fund and TechSTL Foundation to life, to ensure that more tech opportunities are made available to the black, brown, female, LGBTQIA2S+, and foreign born communities who are often left out of this conversation. And lastly, as a membership-based organization we now have the systems in place to more fully engage and support our members in helping them build the St. Louis Innovation Scene through creating more tech jobs, tech startups, and tech innovation. As I now embark on the next phase of this work I am extremely hopeful for what is to come for the St. Louis Metro!

Emily Hemingway

We are proud to serve as the first Tech Council of the St. Louis Metro. TechSTL launched in March 2022 under the fiscal leadership of SLDC and the City of St. Louis. We are now an independent membershipbased organization serving the 15-county bi-state.

TechSTL is committed to scaling the data economy by connecting partners, building infrastructure, and investing in the programs that equitably grow our innovation pipeline. We support the health of the STL pipeline by catalyzing tech jobs, tech startups, and tech innovation.

What

Delivering Targeted Events & Programming

We host high-value experiences that make St. Louis a growing Innovation Hub

134 EVENTS HOSTED IN TOTAL 22-23

14k EVENT ATTENDEES IN TOTAL 22-23

5k 30

TECHWEEK TOTALATTENDEES

Want to stay up-to-date on upcoming

TechSTL events? Join our Newsletter!

26 ST LOUIS VENUES TECHWEEK

50k

TECHWEEK EVENTS HOSTED $ RAISED FOR TECHWEEK

How are we activating the St. Louis Tech Scene?

We are creating a "New Center of Gravity" for the regional ecosystem

Took Over in April

Hosted in April

As the most active event host in St. Louis, we're waking up the Metro!

hightech happy hour

How are we Connecting a Fragmented Ecosystem?

31Partners

57Partners

Since we launched TechSTL in 2022, the community has emphasized that fragmentation of the ecosystem is hindering our region's most pressing work. As a cross-sector organization, TechSTL is uniquely positioned to connect robust networks to break-down those silos and that work remains our top priority.

4 4 P a r srent

62Partners

Our Ecosystem Networks have been driving strategic planning conversations, asset mapping efforts, and conducting a gap analysis within each of the five focus areas. We are rallying partners, facilitating research, developing databases, and building an action plan for moving the region forward. By combining strategy + data + technology, we're able to aggressively build solutions forward.

Building the "digital backbone" for opportunity access

Superhub Platform of Web Portals to increase resource accessibility

Master Database w/2000 Resources

TechSTL Portal

STEMSTL Portal

BOSS Portal

SUPERHUB TECH JOB BOARD

2k Resources

10-12k Active Jobs

STLworks Portal

ISBE Portal

StartupSTL Portal

Tech Job Board & Talent Network

(1.0 Version Launched, +10k jobs)

Data Stewardship Model (Year 1 Reports, Exploring Partnerships with City/County on DIS Warehouse)

Communications Hub to tell the St. Louis tech story (30k Followers, YouTube Channel, Newsletter & Podcast)

Who are the National Leaders now paying attention?

National Smart Cities Initiatives

Targeted Tech Training & Partnerships

Expanding Tech Infrastructure in North City Talent Attraction Resources & PR Opportunities

Prioritizing Scalable Impact & Access

We are developing a Community Framework for sustainable Systemic Change

30k $ RAISED FOR STEM SCHOLARSHIP FUND

102 FREE TECHSTL EQUITY MEMBERSHIPS

5 HOSTED COMMUNITY FUNDRAISERS STL K-12 YOUTH TECH PROGRAMS FUND PARTNERS STEM SCHOLARSHIP

6 17

4 GRANT FUNDING CATEGORIES & the Foundation at TechSTL.com

You can contribute to the Scholarship Fund

How are we partnering to grow economic opportunity?

In Partnership with:

The TechSTL Scholarship Fund will provide postsecondary scholarships to regionally offered computer science, data analytics, design, and IT business degree programs and certificates for diverse residents of the St. Louis MSA.

Raised the first $30k

Awarding Scholarships in Fall 2023

The TechSTL Foundation is the competitive grantmaking arm of the Tech Council and supports high-impact initiatives in STEM Education, Workforce Development, Business Ecosystem, and Business Capital Access.

Selected 4 Categories

Preparing for Fundraising in Fall 2023

The TechSTL Team

Emily Hemingway Executive Director

Ellie Scott Lead Project Manager

Devon Moody-Graham Programming Advisor

B. Marcell Williams Events Advisor

Christopher Kolar Data Strategy Advisor

Vik Lakhwara Equity Capital Advisor

Kieran Blanks Emerging Markets Advisor

Connie Gallagher Member Advisor

The TechSTL Board of Directors

Brian Matthews Cultivation Capital

Lance Knuckles SLDC

Tony Bryan CyberUp

Chris Kontes Balto

Devon Moody-Graham

CEOMom Empire

Tim Alexander Greater St. Louis, Inc.

John Launius Nitrous Effect

Allison McCutcheon

Thank you to our 2022-2023 Top Supporters

Thank you to our Founding Organizational Members

Advanced Resources

Aggio LLC

AK Operations

Alambda Systems LLC

Alliance Systems

Amazon Web Services

Americas Central Port District

Amptify

Anheuser-Busch

Artopia

Balto Software Inc.

BENT ENGINEERING

BioSTL

Bluebird Network

Bonfyre

BreakWell

Buswell Biomedical

Buzzbold

Capacity

Capital Innovators

Catch health

CDW

CEdge Inc

Claim Academy

Code St Louis

CompTIA

Coriana6

Cortex Cortex Innovation

Community

Crossbar

CyberUp

CYDEO

Dataplant

Datix

Decide Technologies Inc

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Educational Consultant

Enterprise Holdings, Inc

Evolution STL

Exactly Zero File Auditor LLC

Financial Health IQ

FinLocker

GamOn

Gateway Higher Education

Cybersecurity Consortium

Greater St. Louis, Inc.

Hampao.com

Hire Henry Holt Analytics LLC

Husch Blackwell IBM

Information Technology

Senior Management Forum

IntegrityXD Invisibly, Inc.

iSite Media LLC

Justine Petersen

Kahani

Kalei jewlz

KimHEC

LaunchCode

Leadership Council of

Southwestern Illinois

Lindenwood University

Maryville University of St Louis

Mastercard

McGrail Tech

Midland States Bank

Midwest BankCentre

Mission Control GG

nativeMsg, Inc

Neighborhood Innovation Center

Nerdy Diva

News Lab Inc. - dba bizblip

North Highland

NPower Missouri

Oakwood Systems Group, Inc

Object Computing

Ocelot Consulting

OneStop

P. Davidson & Company

Paritta Group Inc.

Parkway School District

Patika

PCs For People of Greater St Louis

Per Scholas

Pivto Digital Learning

Po Tolo Applied Insights

Polsinelli

PRI Global Prison to PhD (P2P)

Progress 64 West

Real Document Solutions

REJIS

Rokusek Recruits

Rung For Women

Saint Louis University

Saint Louis University - Chaifetz

Center for Entrepreneurship

Savvy Coders

SBS Creatix, LLC

Securboration, Inc.

Seiler Instrument & Manufacturing Company

Shades of Color

SimpleRose Inc

SixThirty Ventures

Slalom

SLU School of Professional Studies

Southern Illinois Builders

Association/SICAP

Southern Illinois University

Edwardsville

SpatialGIS

Speak Information Technologies

(Speak IT)Unity Foundation

Spry Digital

Square & Cash app

St Louis Arch Angels

St Louis Community College

Standing Partnership

Starkloff Disability Institute

StartLouis

Stereotaxis

STL Youth Jobs

StockSwap

Summersalt Inc.

TDK Technologies LLC

Tech Dev Tech Jobs for Good Technology Partners

Textel

The BALSA Group

The Little Bit Foundation

The Mathern Project

The StarWood Group

T-Kartor USA

Total Orbit Inc.

Total Quality Solutions

Transitions Law Group

Turnberry Solutions

UNCOMN, LLC

United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation

Verified Backups, LLC

VetBiz

Vincerem LLC

Washington University -

University College

Well Principled

WeWork

World Trade Center St Louis

World Wide Technology

Zomia Center