When Lauren Washington joins UB’s Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships (BEP) as Senior Associate Director of Startup Ventures, she will already be a familiar face to her new colleagues.

Washington’s relationship with the Buffalo startup community began a decade ago when her startup at the time, KeepUp, was among 43North’s first season of winners in 2014. That win propelled her on a path to become an accomplished entrepreneur and CEO with a passion for empowering decision-making in seed investing. She started a company called Black Women Talk Tech, which has grown to be the largest conference in the world for Black women tech founders and expanded to include Black Men Talk Tech and a nonprofit arm, Talk Tech Association.

Her experiences exposed a huge need for unbiased funding, so she co-founded Fundr, a platform that leverages data and AI for smarter investing. Washington will continue to oversee the company as she joins UB, giving her a real-time perspective on what startups are facing in today’s business climate.

In addition to winning 43North early in her career, her work earned her an Austin Inno Fire Award and has been covered by The New York Times, TechCrunch and Forbes NEXT 1000.

Throughout her startup journey, Washington has coached and mentored other startups, including serving for the last two years as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at BEP’s Cultivator—the program she’ll be running.

Cultivator provides mentorship, coworking space, and investments of up to $100,000 to early-stage startups from Western New York, regardless of previous affiliation with UB. Since launching in 2021, more than 70 companies have participated in the program.

Akruti Babaria, founder of Cultivator portfolio company Kulture Khazana, sought guidance from Washington as her children’s toy and game company skyrocketed to success.

Washington steps into the position previously held by Peter Burakowski, who will be shifting to a leadership role of BEP’s Startup Ventures team, which includes Cultivator, START-UP NY and the Western New York Incubator Network (WIN).

“Lauren Washington is an incredible entrepreneur, community builder and mentor for founders, and we are very excited to have her join BEP’s Startup Ventures team. I can’t wait to see how she applies her wealth of startup experience to take Cultivator to the next level,” says Burakowski.

For Washington, who will be moving to Buffalo from Austin, joining UB to fill this role feels like the right fit at the right time.

In her new post, Washington will be tasked with managing relationships with key partners within the university and the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well as bring in new partners from outside of Western New York, with an eye toward driving economic impact in the region. She can’t wait to get started.

“I’m really looking forward to expanding on the incredible groundwork that has already been done,” says Washington. “Cultivator has made a big impact in such a short amount of time and created a uniquely valuable program for early-stage companies. This is the perfect time to take stock of what we’ve accomplished and plan for future growth. I couldn’t be more excited to facilitate the program into its next phase.” 

“BEP’s economic impact in the region is due to the people who work tirelessly to make programs such as Cultivator an asset to the Western New York startup community,” says Per Stromhaug, BEP’s Senior Associate Vice President for Economic Development. “Lauren’s entrepreneurial background and personal experiences in the program will strengthen the program even further, and I am very excited to bring her on board and back to our region.”