Groundswell incubator celebrates opening in Melbourne
MELBOURNE — Walking through a repurposed indoor skate park, Jenna Buehler led Groundswell tour visitors across an industrial-themed floor plan of shipping-container offices, communal conference rooms, and shared workspaces intended to create an innovative ecosystem for high-tech entrepreneurs.
"The mission at Groundswell is to strengthen the pipeline to capital by connecting people with mentors and resources," Buehler, co-founder and chief executive officer, told tour attendees.
"The Space Coast has never seen anything like this before. So to develop something that physically represents the initiative itself was a challenge — and one we're excited to embrace," Buehler said.
During a Friday grand opening ceremony, hundreds of attendees checked out Groundswell's $1 million-plus startup incubator on Irwin Street in south Melbourne. A trio of panel discussions focused on startup mentorships, resources and access to funding.
Groundswell was founded in June 2015 as a virtual organization, conducting meetings at various Space Coast offices and coffee shops. Today, the privately funded group has grown into Florida's largest nonprofit high-tech incubator, Buehler said, helping fund nine early-stage companies the past year.
The 12,000-square-foot building's eclectic floor plan features 15 rental offices, each fashioned for teams of two to eight people. The remainder of the building features a café and lounge area, three conference rooms, six soundproof phone booths, and a spacious "Room With A View" event area facing Riverview Park.
Some offices are housed inside retrofitted shipping containers. Example: One shipping container is split into two small offices. One is occupied by Alertgy, a tech company that is creating wristbands embedded with sensors that monitor blood-sugar levels for Type 2 diabetics. The other office — which sat vacant Friday — is used by a software engineer who works remotely to and from Austin, Texas, Buehler said.
Back in 2007, Team Pain, a Winter Park skate park builder, converted this former Babcock Furniture warehouse into The Park, Brevard County's largest indoor skate park. The Park closed in 2015 — but colorful graffiti artwork from the skate park still covers numerous walls inside the building.
Bud Deffebach, a Melbourne Beach-based venture capitalist who co-founded Groundswell, bought the building in January 2016 for $365,000, property records show.
"We have a tremendous talent base here, but it is often thought of as being in various silos. What Groundswell is intended to do is be the fabric that connects people, so you have creative collisions in a space that mixes founders, investors and mentors," Deffebach said.
Deffebach described the building as "a disruptive, creative place."
On Nov. 2, Buehler said Groundswell will host a University of Florida cybersecurity conference. She also announced a partnership with the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast's Technology Docking program, which lets small- to medium-sized companies work with NASA to solve a technology challenge.
Melbourne-Miami artist Christopher Maslow painted a self-described "minimalist optical illusion" outdoor mural on the side of the building facing U.S. 1 traffic. Maslow painted the Florida Institute of Technology-commissioned panther mural last year at New Haven Avenue and Waverly Place in downtown Melbourne.
Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter