The City of Elk Grove is investing up to $800,000 to help startups grow and stay.
"We know there are these early stage tech companies in the Bay Area that are looking to operate more affordably and more efficiently, which is often, for them, a business decision of moving from the Bay Area," said Darrell Doan, Elk Grove's economic development director.
The Startup Elk Grove Incentive Program has three components, which include launch, scale up, and spaces.
The launch component is for entrepreneurs looking to start up a company in Elk Grove. Entrepreneurs can get a grant up to $10,000.
The scale up component is for existing startup companies that are looking to move or expand in Elk Grove. Companies can get grants between $30,000 and $150,000 to be used toward moving, expanding, equipment, and other scaling business costs.
The spaces component is for those who run co-working spaces, business incubators, and startup accelerators. Those eligible can get between $100,000 to $250,000 for starting and operating a space.
"We really wanna target the Bay Area, but just as importantly want to target Elk Grove's home-grown entrepreneurs," Doan said.
Christina Kumar is an entrepreneur based in Elk Grove. She says money is a reason why some people start looking there first.
"You have to look elsewhere for opportunities," Kumar said. "A lot of traveling and networking basically and the more you network, the more opportunities grow. And then, by word of mouth, you get more and more opportunities."
Elk Grove says it's trying to compete in an innovative way.
"We have a very traditional economic base, retail, government, and manufacturing," Doan said. "This is just the next logical step for us to be competitive, to set ourselves apart from Silicon Valley and from the region, and to really do economic development in a new and innovative way."
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