WASHINGTON, DC — StartupGVL is poised to take its place as one of the nation’s top tech hubs.

The Greenville area, along with other parts of the Upstate and Midlands, was recognized as one of 31 Tech Hub Designees by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), paving the way for potentially $70 million in funding to implement tech-based initiatives.

The designation is part of the first phase of a program authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act signed by President Biden in August of 2022. The program solicited applications from regional tech hubs, seeking ways to strengthen the region’s capacity to manufacture, commercialize and deploy technology advancing American competitiveness.

The Greenville area is included in the SC Nexus for Advanced Resilient Energy – which consists of the Greenville-Anderson MSA, Columbia, Spartanburg and surrounding counties, as well as the Augusta-Richmond Georgia-South Carolina MSA – was among the 31 applications designated as Tech Hubs.

NEXT, located in Greenville and a key member of the #StartupGVL ecosystem, played a pivotal role during the application process and is among the SC Nexus consortium.

The selected regions were chosen from nearly 400 applications that include industry, academia, state and local governments, economic development organizations, as well as labor and workforce partners. Those finalists are now able to apply for between $40 million and $70 million each for implementation funding, totaling nearly $500 million nationwide.

The SC based hub, led by the South Carolina Department of Commerce, aims to make the region a global leader in advanced energy through the development, testing and deploying of exportable electricity technologies.

The announcement was made via a press release, followed up by a press conference from President Biden.