Soho tech firm finds avenue for long-term growth in short-term space

Only in Silicon Alley can something as standard as the sublet spark an innovation. Crain’s reported that Fueled, a three-year-old digital application developer that rents 12,500 square feet at 568 Broadway, has dedicated some of its space to hosting a start-up incubator.

Called the Fueled Collective, 15 start-up technology companies rent desks by the month that come with a ping-pong table, free food, a coffee bar and an ice cream cart. About one-third of the companies are Fueled clients that have joined to work closer to the company, while others are partnerships with unrelated firms.

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For the start-ups, the space is an opportunity to Carve A Place in New York’s growing tech scene — much of which is based out of 568 Broadway, where even Fueled’s space is subleased from Foursquare — without forking over to pay rapidly increasing rents. The start-ups can also leverage Fueled’s experience to help boost their own businesses.

Meanwhile, Fueled gets the inside track on getting valuable equity stakes in the start-up businesses, a good look at which models would succeed and partnerships that could become valuable down the line. “Fueled Collective is our future,” said Director Ryan Matzner. “Right now, we have clients and friends in here, but in the future it’s going to be fewer friends, around the same number of clients, and a lot more partnerships.” [Crain’s]