The Data Is In: How Activate Anywhere is Expanding the Path to Science Entrepreneurship in the United States

By Andrés Ochoa, Managing Director of the Activate Anywhere Community

When we launched Activate Anywhere, we had a bold vision: to create a virtual community that would empower scientists and engineers to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges, no matter where they were located. Earlier this year, I shared my personal experience witnessing the success of Activate Anywhere. Today, I’m proud to share the hard data showing that the Activate Anywhere Community has not only met our vision but is exceeding our expectations.

Andrés Ochoa 
Managing Director, Activate Anywhere

Since its inception in 2022, Activate Anywhere has grown into a vibrant and impactful community. With the anchor support of the National Science Foundation and a number of additional partners including DARPA, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Oceankind, Gerstner Philanthropies, ICL Group, and Woka Foundation, we have welcomed 36 innovators and 28 companies across Cohorts 2022, 2023, and 2024. What began as an experiment in building a virtual hard-tech startup community has evolved into one of the most successful core components of Activate, fueling our mission to expand access to innovation and commercialization.

Impressively, the demand for Activate Anywhere continues to skyrocket and it is our most popular community in terms of applicants for three years running. Of all the Activate Fellowship applicants for Cohort 2024, 425—over 41 percent—applied to Activate Anywhere over the in-person locations of New York, Boston, Houston, and Berkeley. 

We hypothesized that the Activate Anywhere model, by enabling fellows to live and work flexibly, anywhere in the United States, would increase the gender and racial diversity of the applicant pool, and thus the fellowship. And we were right. Applicants represented 42 states, including Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, and constituted the highest number of BIPOC and women applicants across all of our communities. This level of interest and diversity is both humbling and inspiring, and it demonstrates the unique value of a virtual community that knows no geographical boundaries. 

Table 1: Sense of Community

One of the most remarkable aspects of Activate Anywhere is the strength of the community we’ve built. We all wondered initially: “Can a virtual community really foster the same sense of connection as an in-person one?” The answer, as our data shows, is a resounding yes. In fact, on a scale of 1-10, fellows in the Activate Anywhere Community have consistently rated their sense of community even higher than those in traditional in-residence locations (Table 1). This outcome speaks to the power of shared purpose and the bonds that form when people come together to solve big problems, even when they’re not in the same room. Because these fellows don’t have as many entrepreneurial outlets in their existing ecosystems, the virtual community can sometimes be their only community. 

Furthermore, fellows in the Activate Anywhere Community have proven that there is still a wealth of opportunities for hiring talent, despite their not being in a traditional entrepreneurial ecosystem. In our self-reported survey, Cohort 2022 and 2023 fellows in the Activate Anywhere Community have brought on 110 new employees over the last two years—or about six per company, on average—compared to the average of five per company across the Activate Berkeley, Boston, and New York Communities (Table 2). This success is a clear indication that the Activate Anywhere model not only works but thrives—and it can spur local economic activity even in non-traditional entrepreneurial ecosystems. 

Table 2: Jobs Created

The flexibility of the Activate Anywhere model also allows our fellows to build their companies on their own terms. Whether it’s hiring top talent or navigating the complexities of scaling a business, fellows in this community are proving that location is no barrier to success. This paradigm is especially true when it comes to securing capital. While fellows based in states known as traditional innovation hubs have a lot of opportunities for funding, they also have a lot of competition to get local grants. Fellows in the Activate Anywhere Community have the advantage of tapping into local funding that tends to have less competition, potentially increasing their chances of gaining financial backing. Thus far, our Activate Anywhere fellows have secured funding from 13 different programs and organizations in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. As an added bonus, things like power, rent, and hiring are less expensive in these locations compared to the coasts. Because of this, funding can go further for fellows in the Activate Anywhere Community.   

We initially hypothesized that fellows in more traditional ecosystems of entrepreneurship (e.g. Berkeley, New York, and Boston) might have more success raising capital (dilutive and non-dilutive) than in the emerging ecosystems represented by the Activate Anywhere Community. Over the last two years, however, the 17 companies in the Activate Anywhere Community from Cohorts 2022 and 2023 who have brought in funding have raised $56M total, compared to the average total of $44.1M per community across Berkeley, Boston, and New York (Table 3). This tells us that geography isn't necessarily a barrier to entrepreneurs raising capital or securing grants.

Table 3: Capital Data

Looking ahead, I’m incredibly excited about the future of Activate Anywhere. The overwhelming demand and success of the program make it clear that the virtual model is here to stay, and we are currently looking for partners to help expand the program to even more regions across the United States. As we continue to gather data and refine our program, we remain committed to scaling this innovative model to support even more impact-driven entrepreneurs across the country. The Activate Anywhere Community is not just a successful experiment; it is a blueprint for harnessing the power of virtual collaboration to solve the world's biggest challenges, including climate change.

Activate Anywhere is more than just a virtual community—it’s a movement proving that innovation doesn’t have to be confined to traditional hubs. Although the fellows in the Activate Anywhere Community benefit from being connected to the local Activate communities in the traditional hubs of Berkeley, Boston, and New York, we’re proving it’s not necessary to relocate to one of these locations to make an impact. I’m proud to be a part of this journey and to see the amazing things our fellows are accomplishing, no matter where they are.

If you want to get to know any of the fellows in the Activate Anywhere Community or are interested in helping to expand Activate Anywhere to more geographic locations, please reach out to us via our contact form.