Rant: The old Detroit tech meetup scene used to be a ghost town, now it's packed

Two years back, I went to a startup mixer at the old Grand Trunk spot and maybe 15 people showed up, it was dead. Went to a similar event at the new spot in Corktown last week and there were over a hundred people crammed in there. The big change was the auto companies finally putting real money into local software startups instead of just buying stuff from out of state. Has anyone else seen this shift in where the cash is coming from?

3 comments

3 Comments

smith.parker4d ago

The GM Ventures fund alone dropped like $100 million into local mobility startups last year. That kind of cash completely changed the vibe.

drewr154d ago

Yeah that "changed the vibe" line from @smith.parker is spot on. I read an article about how that GM money let a few companies skip the usual grind for funding. It just feels like a different game when that much cash shows up fast.

the_tessa4d ago

Ugh, totally. You see this everywhere now, like when a huge chain store moves into a small town. Suddenly all the little shops are trying to compete with this flashy new place that didn't have to slowly build up a customer base for years. It just warps the whole local scene overnight.