Medical devices. Package tracking. Ride services. The through line connecting those Memphis companies is a downtown nonprofit that has spent nearly a decade making the first phone call, writing the first check and sitting in the first pitch meeting. Epicenter, founded in 2017, works as educator, early investor and support system for founders across the Greater Memphis region, and The Commercial Appeal reports the organization is now driving $110 million in investment tied to the hundreds of startups it has helped launch.
The model is built on readiness rather than luck. The Capital Readiness Accelerator walks founders through what investors actually look for, the Customer Readiness Accelerator works the revenue side, and industry specific tracks like the Medical Device Operations Challenge and the Logistics Industry Opportunity Challenge point founders at the sectors Memphis already dominates. ZeroTo510, the medical device accelerator, has been sending devices toward FDA clearance out of Memphis for years.
The next phase reaches earlier into the pipeline. Under president and CEO Anthony J. Young, Epicenter is launching EpicenterU, a students to startups program backed by an $812,000 grant, and the annual DelTech Conference returns in October to pull the region’s founders, funders and industry partners into one room. The bet is a simple one, that the next Memphis company solving a national problem is already here, a few resources short of getting started.
