Silicon Valley company invests in Topeka
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Kansas is working to become a national hub for all things agriculture, now Silicon Valley wants in on the action.
More than 300 companies in the animal health industry are between Manhattan, Kansas and Columbia, Missouri. It’s called the Animal Health Corridor.
The National Bio and Agro-defense Facility is moving from New York to Manhattan, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is moving to Kansas City.
Plug and Play, a company that helps startups grow, is opening a location in Topeka to help animal health and agriculture technology startups thrive in Kansas.
“Kansas, Topeka, you guys have amazing resources here,” said Stephen Fay, Director of Corporate Partnerships for Plug and Play.
“We definitely want to capitalize on those 100 percent, and then ultimately we want to bring in some outside ideas, we want to bring in some outside technology that may not be necessarily thought about to begin with,” Fay said.
The company will secure funding for businesses as well as show what the region has to offer.
State Commerce Secretary David Toland says this is a clear sign from a major player in Silicon Valley.
“Really an endorsement of the animal health corridor and the investments that we’ve made locally in Topeka and the state has made over the last 15 years in that animal health corridor, and in our state universities which are a key part of the talent that’s needed to support an entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Toland said.
The company will bring in 20 startups a year, beginning with animal or agriculture focus, but the new location should benefit all startups.
“It’s going to expand and grow, we’re going to get new people that are very interested in becoming entrepreneurs, that are interested in coming to Kansas saying we need a place to work, we need a place to plug in and we want to foster some innovation here,” said Fay.
Many people are hoping the region can be a hub for startups to settle down in.
“Their expertise and network expands beyond animal health and ag-tech, said Katrin Bridges, Senior Vice President for the Greater Topeka Partnership.
“We would like to bring those opportunities to the region as well, now not everything has to be in Topeka. We think that by tying in regional partners, we can have pop up accelerators a couple years down the road that focus on different verticals,” Bridges said.
Topeka will join 30 other Plug and Play locations across the world.