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COM Agarwal — who was first exposed to Hartford's startup ecosystem through a Techstars Accelerator program in partnership with Stanley Black & Decker — moved from India to Hartford to grow his company, which focuses on enhanced robotic automation for manufacturing. Agarwal said proximity to the state's robust aerospace and manufacturing hubs was a key rationale for relocating to Hartford, but equally attractive were the resources the region has available for early-stage companies like his. "The presence of a developer ecosystem drew us [to Hartford] as a place where we can start and expand our operation," he said. Peer Robotics' offices will be based in Upward Hartford's coworking space at 20 Church St., and the company will be hiring for business development and engineering roles. Michelle Cote, director of Launc[H]artford, CTNext's innovation hub for the Hartford region, said the close-knit startup community has been a value proposition for Greater Hartford. "The quality of the connections that we make, the industry expertise and the unique mixture of assets [in the state] offers a lot of advantages for entrepreneurs," Cote said. Through its focus on insurtech, medtech and advanced manufacturing, over the past three years Launc[H]artford has supported the creation of 54 companies and scaled 120 others, she said. It has also provided more than 6,000 hours of mentorship to startups. Whether it's technical assistance, mentors, interns or venture capital, Cote said, her organization — and other startup and innovation players in the region, including ReSet, Upward Hartford and MakerspaceCT — are able to help entrepreneurs access multiple resources to support their needs. COVID disruption Marty Guay, vice president of business development for Stanley Black & Decker, which runs its Manufactory 4.0 "smart factory" in downtown Hartford's Constitution Plaza, said the state's and CTNext's commitment to innovation is valuable, but scaling those efforts will be critical to long-term growth. "Connecticut needs to scale because of its size and that will require a lot of collaboration between a lot of stakeholders," Guay said. He said the state's startup community must attract more venture capital, a longtime issue in Connecticut. COVID-19 has had a disruptive effect on Hartford's startup ecosystem, including forcing the exit of Startupbootcamp, the London-based company that was hired to run two Hartford accelerator programs focused on insurance and healthcare technology. Efforts to bring in entrepreneurs from across the globe also slowed amid travel and other restrictions. Some boosters have warned that Startupbootcamp's exit from the two accelerators should serve as a warning that the burgeoning startup community that gained momentum in the three years leading up to the pandemic could fizzle without increased support and public funding. However, while there have been setbacks, the state has also made some overall progress. Bloomberg News in 2022 named Connecticut the fourth most innovative economy in the U.S., and Inc. Magazine in 2021 ranked Hartford No. 5 among U.S. cities where tech talent is actually moving. Jessica Dodge, CT Next's director of operations and programs, said what her organization has created to date is still relatively new and evolving. CTNext's services include an internship program that connects local college students with area startups. "Our Innovation Places were unprecedented here in Connecticut and five years later perhaps we need to do some tweaking, but it's supposed to be an iterative process," she said. "There are ripe opportunities to make sure that entrepreneurs and startups of any industry sector feel they can come to CTNext and navigate through [the ecosystem]." It's what Obiocha calls a continuum of care for startups. "It's looking at the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem from the first time an entrepreneur has a [business] idea, and how we [can] bring them down the pathway and give them the resources they need to be successful," Obiocha said. Jessica Dodge Rishabh Agarwal Marty Guay