By Tom Still
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The city of Green Bay and its surroundings in northeast Wisconsin are among the state’s most under-rated destinations. To be certain, the legend of the football Packers thriving in professional football’s smallest market is part of the lure – but a visitor to Brown County may also find art fairs and galleries; history spanning multiple cultures; restaurants and brew pubs; a working downtown harbor; and even a car museum with tricked-out vehicles from James Bond movies.
A newer feature likely to pay dividends to the city and the state for decades to come is TitletownTech.
On Lombardi Avenue within sight of Lambeau Field, TitletownTech is part innovation hub and part early stage venture capital firm with eclectic target industries that is part of its allure to young portfolio companies, many of which call its 46,000-square-foot facility home.
Unlike some venture capital firms that specialize in one sector or another, TitletownTech is willing to invest in manufacturing and construction; supply chain and logistics; emerging technologies; agriculture, water and energy; digital health; and sports, media and entertainment. That list is representative of Green Bay itself and includes 40 investments to date.
TitletownTech was formed out of a partnership with the Green Bay Packers and Microsoft, but works with many other community groups, corporations, academia and beyond. It invests only in the United States and Canada and has a bias toward putting money in Wisconsin companies, but it has yet to make locating in Green Bay a requirement.
Quite a few companies have done so, however, with Lyndon Lattie and his team from Aramid Technologies being a recent example. With roots in Arizona, the company has opened an office in TitletownTech to continue refining its “SmartCert” platform of digitizing and streamlining processes across the supply chain. It addresses the challenges companies face in receiving, reviewing, managing and creating quality certifications.
“We felt it was an excellent place from which to continue our work,” Lattie said. “TitletownTech is creating a tech hub that has a definite Midwest flavor to it.”
In April, nearly 1,000 startups applied to take part in the TitletownTech “Startup Draft,” which was timed to correspond with the actual NFL player combine. Seven companies made the cut and two – Ateios Systems and Ubicept – were “drafted,” with the payoff being a total of $2.7 million in investments and cloud resources.
Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith, who grew up in Appleton, later said the TitletownTech draft “exceeded our expectations and imaginations.”
Someone who has watched the growth of TitletownTech since its founding in 2019 is Matthew Kee of Tundra Angels. Kee is an entrepreneur who came to Green Bay in 2016. He recalls the startup and tech scene as being “sorely lacking… If greater Green Bay did not have a dramatic pivot, I was concerned about the long-term relevance of Green Bay (in) the innovation and tech ecosystem.”
That changed in short order, said Kee, whose angel fund has invested about $4.5 million in startups over time.
“From my perspective, TitletownTech has done wonders for the Wisconsin startup ecosystem,” Kee said. “It has captured the continual attention of two of the largest brands in the world – Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers. TitletownTech has catalyzed, and continues to catalyze, an awareness and appetite for venture capital in the region but also (attracts) high-caliber talent… The reverberations and success of TitletownTech are felt not only in the entire region, but also the entire state.”
With a team that includes experienced managers, investors and mentors, perhaps it’s no surprise that TitletownTech has moved the ball downfield in just six years. The same Green Bay that defied the odds to become a football icon may be on its way to doing something similar in a venture industry where most “stars” come from the East and West coasts. TitletownTech has a chance to change that playbook.
Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. tstill@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.