by Sarah Nicoll, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, CivStart
As 2024 comes to a close, CivStart celebrates a record year of national impact in local government innovation. True to its mission, CivStart continues to empower govtech entrepreneurs, embolden government leaders, and convene the entire ecosystem to catalyze real change for our communities, building on five years of innovation.
Here’s a quick recap. Read on for more details on all these developments:
Our best State of GovTech Summit yet!
Launched the CivStart Innovation Hub in partnership with NLC.
Our sixth annual Accelerator cohort brings us to 71 startups in our portfolio.
Launch of the Govtech Lab program, the Venture Partners Network, and the Consultant Network to enhance our support of startups.
We hosted an amazing Challenge & Pitchfest with government leaders.
Building the Ecosystem
To achieve progress in government innovation, all stakeholders need to connect and collaborate. CivStart activates this ecosystem in many ways across its programming and events, with some noteworthy milestones in 2024.
The State of GovTech Summit is where innovation happens.
While most of CivStart’s programming takes place virtually, we bring everyone together in person once a year for our State of GovTech Summit. This year’s event took place in partnership with Kansas City, the National League of Cities, and Government Technology. Attended by 180 top leaders across industry and government, we hosted 60 speakers and 23 startup pitches — it was our best one yet!
“Attending State of GovTech was a great opportunity to connect with both government and entrepreneurial practitioners in local government innovation while gaining valuable insights into emerging trends shaping the future of the field.”
Bo McCall, MPA, PMP, Principal Innovation Analyst at Johnson County, KS
We are already planning 2025’s State of GovTech taking place in the Spring in Arlington, VA. You can sign up here for updates. We hope to see you there!
The CivStart Innovation Hub
Earlier in the year we launched the CivStart Innovation Hub in partnership with the National League of Cities. This platform welcomes all govtech entrepreneurs, government employees, investors, corporate leaders, academics, and other nonprofit organizations, focused on improving local government. The hub facilitates webinars, curriculum, pitch sessions, information sharing, and networking opportunities to connect these stakeholders and spark ideas or partnerships. Since its launch, over 800 members have joined this growing community.
“This partnership provides our member cities with deeper insights and engagement on the technologies and innovative ideas that are shaping the cities of the future.”
Brandon Natsuhara, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the National League of Cities
Serving Entrepreneurs
CivStart got its start equipping govtech entrepreneurs to be the best possible partners for governments. Our flagship Accelerator program has now scaled 71 startups over six years and added new value to entrepreneurs and local governments alike every year.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of govtech companies responding to these government challenges continues to grow, along with interest from funders across private equity, venture capital, and family offices. These entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for the public good often lack the knowledge and resources necessary to navigate government procurement and gain insight and access to government decision-makers. CivStart’s twelve-month Accelerator and virtual Govtech Lab offer the support, guidance, and network necessary to succeed in the sector.
The CivStart Accelerator launched our sixth and largest cohort. For the first time the group had a shared theme: artificial intelligence. All 16 startups utilize AI in their offerings to local governments, and CivStart is proud to be partnering with the GovAI Coalition to ensure these entrepreneurs align with governance standards necessary for them to succeed.
“CivStart is a great connector between entrepreneurs and innovative cities. It is an incredible opportunity to learn from the expertise of cities, other founders, and CivStart’s mentors and leadership.”
Gillian Wildfire, CEO of municipal-code startup Fordje
The Govtech Lab
But what about all the great startups outside of our accelerator? This year the CivStart Innovation Hub made our network and resources accessible to the broader startup community through the Govtech Lab! With around 200 participants, CivStart is making a greater impact for many more aspiring govtech entrepreneurs.
The Venture Partner Network and Consultant Network
CivStart launched two new offerings in 2024 to respond to the pain points of startups: fundraising and hiring the right support. Through the Venture Partner Network, CivStart strives to connect our startups to funders who understand, and care about, the government sector. Anyone from an angel investor to a private equity firm can partner with CivStart to connect with these companies, attend exclusive pitch events, and gain market insight. Special thanks to Advantage Capital for being an inaugural member. Through the CivStart Consultant Network, we continue to vet trusted partners versed in the government sector to help our startups across all areas of development. You can learn more and apply to join here. These two new resources augment our ongoing work to provide key value across the entire government innovation ecosystem.
Answering Government Challenges
CivStart delivers for government leaders through our civic challenges and Pitch Fest program.
Financial instability, accurate data management, employee retention and hiring, affordable housing, and natural disasters are just some of the challenges our governments face as they strive for thriving communities. Government leaders are looking for improved, efficient, and affordable solutions, but often lack the resources and exposure necessary for finding and implementing them. They need ways to learn from and collaborate with their government peers nationwide while gaining knowledge of the best technology options available. This is where CivStart comes in.
The Innovation Hub now serves as a space for governments to learn from one another, share their challenges, discover the top govtech innovations, and tap into CivStart’s resources.
The Challenge & Pitchfest
My favorite program delivered to our government community this year was the Challenge & Pitchest! Five governments from across the U.S. came together around shared challenges and served as judges in our pitchfest competition hosted at the Kauffman Foundation this past spring. Dozens of startups applied, and ten finalists were selected to share how their solutions meet the government’s multifaceted challenge statement which focused on better equipping local entrepreneur ecosystems and sharing government information with citizens. You can learn more about the event, and contact us if you’d like to bring something like this to your community!
Gratitude for our Partners
As we close out the calendar year, I can’t help but reflect on all the amazing individuals and partners who make CivStart a success. Imperative to the continued success of CivStart is our volunteer Board of Directors. These individuals have experience across government, industry, and investment, with insight that offers guidance to all aspects of CivStart’s work. Our organization also could not thrive without the dynamic and diverse Mentor Network that educates and advises the entrepreneurs.
We are also grateful to our organizational partners who add tremendous benefit to our ecosystem. This includes our nonprofit allies who collaborate on programs and events, and our corporate partners who provide funding and benefits to both CivStart and the startups we serve. Thank you for the ways you partner with us — we couldn’t do it without you!
If you’re interested in getting involved in CivStart, please don’t hesitate to reach out! We are looking forward to another impactful year ahead, and hope you’ll be a part of empowering our local governments in 2025.
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