The 2025 Top Four finalists included Halie & Co, Detroit Culture & Clay, Livy's Sweetrolls, and Walter Pat's Bakery Cafe. After a community-driven competition, Walter Pat's Bakery Cafe won the $100,000 grand prize from Comerica, while the three runner-up businesses each received $10,000 from the MEDC to support their launch and growth. 

Since 2012, the Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest has awarded $1.5 million+ in funding to Detroit entrepreneurs, helping turn brick-and-mortar dreams into thriving neighborhood businesses. The contest has assisted 60+ businesses in opening and employed 500+ people across these community-anchored enterprises. 

Twenty-six entrepreneurs graduated from two Retail Boot Camp cohorts in 2025, with 12 launching grand openings or expanding to new locations. All participating businesses are located in Wayne County, strengthening neighborhood commercial districts across the region. Together with the broader Small Business Services portfolio, these retail entrepreneurs contribute to the $30–40 million in annual revenue generated by the 1,014 small businesses TechTown supported in 2025.

The SHOP provides Detroit entrepreneurs with free pop-up vendor space, professional visual merchandising training, and real-time coaching from retail experts. In 2025, 92 vendors participated in The SHOP, with 82 woman-owned businesses (89%) and 82 BIPOC-owned businesses (89%) reflecting the program's deep commitment to supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs. Vendors generated an estimated $13,056 in self-reported revenue while testing their products, refining their pitches, and gathering invaluable customer feedback in a low-risk, high-support environment.

Start Studio served 213 companies in 2025—including 146 tech-based startups—with 77% led by historically underrepresented founders and over 40% women-owned. The program successfully transitioned from fixed cohorts to milestone-based progression with rolling admissions, allowing founders to enter when ready and exit when they've achieved specific outcomes. This redesign created clearer alignment between founder stage, coaching support, and capital readiness—and the results prove it works.

Start Studio alumni raised over $7 million in follow-on funding in 2025, with standout wins including CircNova's $3.3 million seed round and Motmot's $1.555 million NSF SBIR grant. Other major milestones include Think Technologies' partnership with OpenAI, Ultrium's partnerships with Tesla and Bedrock, Bhadala's $500,000 RTA pilot, and Bagzee's pilot with JFK Airport. From idea validation to investor-ready products, Start Studio builds the foundation for Detroit's most promising tech companies.

Venture 313 deployed $111,437 in direct funding to 22 companies in 2025, catalyzing an additional $1.91 million in follow-on funding raised by portfolio companies—a 17x multiplier demonstrating the program's role as a capital accelerator for Detroit's tech ecosystem.

Venture 313 also launched the inaugural "10 Tech Founders to Watch" list, spotlighting high-growth Detroit founders, and supported 12 founders at national conferences to expand their networks and investor access.

Notably, 9 of the 10 recipients of the first round of the Detroit Startup Fund are TechTown clients, underscoring the organization's role in preparing Detroit founders for competitive funding opportunities.

In 2025, TechTown served as the backbone organization for the Mobility Accelerator Innovation Network (MAIN), coordinating a multi-institution coalition spanning universities, investors, design partners, and entrepreneurial support organizations across Southeast Michigan. MAIN partners engaged 295 mobility-related startups—including 44 new companies—and convened more than 2,300 participants through summits, buildathons, workshops, and ecosystem convenings throughout the year.

MAIN-supported founders reached significant milestones in 2025, including Grounded's release of its G3 modular electric RV, Bhadala's $500,000 pilot with the Regional Transit Authority, and Electric Outdoors' progression from prototype to market-ready product with a 30-unit purchase order and $250,000 PitchMI Traverse City win.

In 2025, MedHealth evolved from a traditional medtech program into a broader health innovation cluster that elevates community-based, lived-experience, and delivery-focused solutions alongside clinical and digital health technologies. The 2025 MedHealth Summit (Abril 23) convened 230+ founders, investors, healthcare leaders, and community innovators for a full day focused on advancing community-centered health innovation beyond pilot stages, featuring 83 structured matchmaking sessions that created concrete pathways for partnerships, pilots, and funding.

Building on this momentum, TechTown hosted four Health Cluster Conversations bringing together an average of 30 health innovation stakeholders per session to surface system-level needs and shape the evolution of the regional health innovation ecosystem

OPS+ experienced a 700% increase in clients from 2024, demonstrating explosive demand for professional back-office support tailored to small businesses and startups. In 2025, OPS+ clients collectively employed 64 people on payroll, managed $33.9 million in total assets, and generated $22.4 million in combined revenue—proving that the right HR, finance, and operational infrastructure enables businesses to scale with confidence.

With OPS+ support, these businesses raised or secured $1.2 million in capital and loans, unlocking growth opportunities that would have been difficult to access without clean financials, solid governance, and professional systems in place.

The Ask an Expert (AAE) program provides free, specialized support to help local tech startups and neighborhood small businesses reach their next level of growth. In 2025, TechTown delivered 837 strategy sessions totaling 20,925 minutes and 109 Ask an Expert sessions totaling 2,725 minutes—representing nearly 400 hours of free expert guidance that helped entrepreneurs solve critical challenges, navigate complex decisions, and unlock new opportunities. Whether it's a startup founder seeking legal advice on IP protection or a retail owner needing HR guidance for their first hire, Ask an Expert connects Detroit entrepreneurs to the right expertise at exactly the right time.

In its first full year, First Thursdays established itself as TechTown's signature monthly networking event designed to foster a vibrant community for entrepreneurs, startups, and ecosystem partners. The program hosted 12 gatherings in 2025, bringing together more than 1,660 attendees and featuring over 60 vendors who showcased their businesses, products, and services.

First Thursdays proves that community building is just as important as capital and coaching when it comes to entrepreneurial success, celebrating the spirit of innovation within Detroit's business landscape month after month.

TechTown's coworking community thrived in 2025, welcoming 76 new member companies while maintaining an average occupancy rate of 95% throughout the year. By Diciembre 2025, the building was home to 924 active members from 49 different industries, creating a diverse ecosystem where tech startups collaborate with retail businesses, nonprofits work alongside creative agencies, and solo founders connect with established companies.

This vibrant community doesn't just share workspace—it builds relationships. Monthly Happy Hours averaged 81 attendees, providing consistent opportunities for members to unwind, connect across industries, and discover unexpected partnerships.

In 2025, 90,809 people walked through TechTown's doors—representing roughly one in every seven Detroit residents. This extraordinary foot traffic reflects TechTown's role not just as a workspace, but as Detroit's premier entrepreneurial gathering place. The building hosted 370 large events with more than 10,000 total attendees, ranging from intimate pitch competitions and workshop series to major ecosystem convenings like the MedHealth Summit, ManuTech Innovation Summit, and AI x Mobility Buildathon.

Beyond major events, TechTown facilitated 22,000 conference room bookings throughout the year, providing flexible, professional spaces for board meetings, strategy sessions, coaching appointments, team offsites, and collaborative work sessions.