Wait, Who's the Next Tech Hub?!

Thoughts of Charlottesville, Va., usually bring up images of Thomas Jefferson, UVA, and small town quaintness. But some will tell you it's becoming its own tech hub.

Joel Selzer spent the last eight years launching tech ventures (Ozmosis and Medical Funding Services) in the DC area. But the G'town and UVA grad recently moved back to Charlottesville, about two hours outside of DC, to launch his newest edtech venture, ArcheMedX. Through his work for mentoring group FounderCorps, Joel is holding events like a Startup Showcase at the Tom Tom Founders Festival, where entrepreneurs from both cities come together. Why has Charlottesville become a hotbed for biotech, health tech, and education companies? Some of it is being fueled by Darden's new iLab Incubator and UVA Innovations, making it easier to commercialize IP.

[caption id="attachment_61625" align="alignnone" ] Courtesy of Tom Tom Founders Festival[/caption]

The Tom Tom Founders Festival is one of the signs there's a budding tech community. Held in Charlottesville for the second time last weekend, it's known as a mini-SXSW, where music, food, art, and innovation converge. The weekend of festivities, named after Thomas Jefferson, included two nights of startups pitching to investors, a TEDx-style talk series with Charlottesville innovators, a tech showcase, five block parties, and 60 bands. The four-day, mostly free event drew 13,000 people, up from the 6,700 last year. Festival director Paul Beyer says the theme is innovation and creativity, which helps the town's tech community recruit and retain employees.

Gina Mancuso's LoveThatFit is one Charlottesville tech startups. She says the community has broadened from its pharma and biotech roots to other types of IT like Cardagin Networks and ADI Engineering. LoveThatFit allows people to try on clothes virtually in-store and online from any smartphone, tablet, or computer. The company soft launched last week and will officially launch May 1. This summer it will do a pilot with a "major retailer." She's also raising funding and will do "some serious hiring" this year. Gina's been in Charlottesville with her four-year-old daughter for four years and says the community is family friendly and easy to travel from for her business.