Y Combinator for Manufacturing

Idea: Create an Advanced Manufacturing Accelerator in Detroit.

  • Invest in a new American hub for rapid R&D and manufacturing of critical products.

Think = HAX for Detroit

  • Newark secured a $50M partnership last year to relocate HAX’s US headquarters.
    • Funding: $25M from New Jersey (NJEDA) + $25M from VC firm SOSV.
  • Detroit: Raise $50M+ to build a manufacturing and technology accelerator in the City.
    • Goal: Build a public factory to support a new generation of industrialists.
      • Invest $500K-1M each in the best startup manufacturers who move to Detroit.
        • Manufacturers in this program get free access to equipment and flex space.
man welding round window frame
Photo by Kateryna Babaieva

Vision: Retrofit an old Michigan manufacturing plant to become a new startup manufacturing hub.

Imagine hundreds of new manufacturing startups thriving again in cities like Detroit.

  • We should build one of these public factories in every major city in America.
    • Thousands of people get new jobs.
    • And we all get better, cheaper, Made in America products and materials.

Potential Sites in Detroit:

Imagine what we could do with 96,600 square feet in Downtown Detroit. (623 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48226)

YC for Manufacturing is a meta-solution to the World’s Biggest Problems.

  • This accelerator will be a factory for new solutions, from commodifying desalination and decarbonization to healthier, abundant food and medicine.

🖐️ Who wants to help make this vision a reality?

Please share the link to this page to rally more people to this YC for Manufacturing idea!

  • This idea is a work-in-progress. If you’d like to riff on it, hit me up @neilthanedar on Twitter.

Published by Neil Thanedar

Neil Thanedar is an entrepreneur, investor, scientist, altruist, and author. He is the founder & GP of Utopic, a pre-seed biotech VC fund investing in the future of science. He is also the founder & chairman of Air to All, a 501(c)3 nonprofit medical device startup, and Labdoor, a consumer watchdog with $7M+ in funding and 20M+ users. He previously co-founded Avomeen Analytical Services, a product development and testing lab acquired for $30M+ in 2016. He has also served as Executive Director of The Detroit Partnership and Senior Advisor to his father Shri Thanedar in his campaigns for Governor, State Representative, and US Congress in Michigan.