Unlocking the Overlooked: How Cross-Sector Capital Fuels Regional Innovation Pipelines

Startups are often discussed as individual ventures, but in overlooked regions they function as long-term economic infrastructure, creating jobs, talent networks, future founders, and new pathways for capital. Using the NativeX story in Greater Minnesota and current ecosystem data, this session explores how philanthropy, catalytic capital, and private investment can work together to preserve founder pipelines, reduce place-based friction, and build durable regional innovation systems. Participants will leave with a practical framework for aligning different forms of capital to support the “first mile” of innovation in their own communities.