Toronto-based innovation hub MaRS announced a new partnership today that will expand its presence to New York City.
Partnering with Grand Central Tech (GCT), MaRS will launch MaRS@GCT, offering support services and physical workspace to Canadian companies looking to take a bite out of the Big Apple.
“The key for us is to find a way to grow a physical presence in NYC.”
GCT’s space in downtown Manhattan spans 100,000 square feet, and offers a similar portfolio of services to MaRS, from operational support, to access to corporate partners and government agencies. Importantly, the two hubs share an overlap in vertical focus, with both targeting healthtech, FinTech, and smart city technology.
GCT will also offer temporary workspace to MaRS-supported companies looking to eventually find a physical space of their own in NYC. In general, the soft landing pad into a large foreign market should appeal to the majority of startups in MaRS portfolio.
“The key for us is to find a way to grow a physical presence in NYC in a way where we can plug into the innovation scene while also keeping costs low,” ThinkData Works CEO Bryan Smith told BetaKit. “We’re past the accelerator phase as a company, but that doesn’t mean we’re ready to buy office space in downtown Manhattan. What I think we can really benefit from is a space like GCT that acts as a way for us to expand and grow as required.”
The MaRS@GCT partnership is not the innovation hub’s first foray into the Empire State. Earlier this year, MaRS partnered with clean energy incubator ACRE, which operates out of the Urban Future Lab at New York University. MaRS says it will be establishing several different partnerships in the northeast United States in the future.