RALEIGH – HQ Raleigh has grown to support operations outside of its launch point as the HQ Community. But HQ Raleigh remains the startup hub of Raleigh. It has doubled its local impact by expanding into two new areas in the city.

In 2017, HQ Raleigh has branched out of its original space to become less of a singular entity and more of a plexus, offering support and camaraderie for startups throughout the city of Raleigh.

Earlier this year, HQ Raleigh leased a new 15,000 square foot space in four floors of the historic downtown Raleigh Capital Club building. The space opened over the summer and is now up to 26 companies. According to HQ Raleigh Founding Member and Director Liz Tracy, “About 85 percent are technology companies or have technology integrated into their product or services in some way.”

The Capital Club location is still filling space for new tenants, and Tracy expects the number of member companies to grow even more by the end of the year.

HQ Raleigh’s Capital Club space is located in a historic downtown Raleigh building. Photo Credit: HQ Raleigh

Just a few months after the debut of the new Capital Club space, HQ Raleigh opened up yet another location, in Raleigh’s Glenwood South neighborhood. The HQ Raleigh at Glenwood South space, which officially opened earlier this month, is in partnership with local content marketing firm Centerline Digital. If offers 12 office suites and space for larger teams in the Glenwood South area. Teams are already moving into their new home there.

The original HQ Raleigh is in downtown Raleigh’s Warehouse District on South Harrington Street, and serves as a sort of hub for the brand and all its member startups with 33 office suites, food and beverage perks, and regular events. This location houses a range of startups from event discovery app Offline Media to edtech platform Lea(R)n, and programs such as the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic.

HQ Raleigh’s original coworking and office space is located in downtown Raleigh’s Warehouse District. Photo Credit: HQ Raleigh

Tracy is optimistic about the future of HQ Raleigh as she expects continued growth on into 2018, largely motivated by evidence she’s seen of larger teams and a broader range of sizes and stages of companies moving into the spaces.

“There continues to be an interesting pipeline of opportunities for this region,” Tracy adds. “As we open the door for bigger companies to move in, that pipeline can only widen.”

This year, HQ Raleigh launched a series of business development programs to further help grow the local startup community. They include:

  • The Southeast Raleigh Entrepreneurs Initiative, in partnership with the Carolina Small Business Development Fund and Shaw University’s new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. The program offers entrepreneurs located in Southeast Raleigh a suite of resources and tools to launch their startups and projects.
  • North Carolina Veteran Entrepreneurs Initiative, in partnership with the Carolina Small Business Development Fund. It offers North Carolina-based, veteran-founded and -led startups full membership to HQ Community’s locations in Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro, as well as business development coaching and mentorship, and introductions to fellow startups, HQ Community partners and local investors.
  • HQ Labs, a 12-week accelerator program for early stage ventures that covers product viability, business model and value proposition development, customer interviews and validation, and more. There’s also a part-time version of the program for folks who have daytime jobs but still want to explore entrepreneurship. HQ Labs offers another edition for recent NC State graduates, as well.