Audible’s $1M Program Wants To Bring Startups To Newark, Cultivating A “Black Tech Mecca”

Newark-based Audible is offering incentives for creative-tech startups, particularly those with founders of color, to relocate to Harriet Tubman Square in downtown Newark.

Audible’s Newark Headquarters

The Audible office is based in Newark, the second-most racially diverse municipality in New Jersey. The racial and ethnic makeup of Newark is roughly 50% Black people and 90% people of color.

Audible was among the first tech companies to put down roots in Newark, relocating from Wayne, Indiana, in 2007.

The office overlooks Harriet Tubman Square and her monument, which Audible helped develop for the audio component of a brief story on Tubman’s history.

Audible has put nearly $1 million into a new program that aims to support companies, particularly those founded by women and people of color, that want to move to Newark, providing them relocation assistance and capital towards office space.

Newark’s tech sector has grown to include scores of startups and maturing firms, Glover said, including more than 90 in NVP’s portfolio alone.

Incentivizing relocation 

Under the initiative, Audible has set aside the money to help cover relocated companies’ first year of lease payments in the buildings surrounding Tubman Square with relocation grants.

They are also offering stipends for employees to “live and shop locally” through an extension of its Live Local Program, which includes a $500 per month subsidy for employees who choose to live in Newark.

“Audible’s business attraction efforts target startups with at least ten employees, at the seed or Series A stage, and which are looking to expand or relocate to Newark,” the Audible company said.

“The program aims to leverage Newark’s unmatched data infrastructure, boost local spending to preserve and create jobs, address high retail and commercial vacancy rates, and accelerate the growth of the city’s innovation ecosystem.”

Transforming Harriet Tubman Square

Audible’s attraction efforts will facilitate leasing opportunities at Newark’s Harriet Tubman Square buildings to transform “iconic spaces” into hubs for local businesses.

For example, the architect and artist behind the Harriet Tubman monument, Nina Cooke John, plans to lead a building redesign.

She aims to turn the building into a mixed-use space that engages anyone who lives, works or studies in the Tubman Square neighborhood.

A second location will also be used for Melba’s Restaurant, which originated in Harlem.

A Black Tech Mecca? 

Six companies in the tech innovation, hospitality, and entertainment sectors joined the program and arrived in Newark. 

Four new tech startups have also leased office space, including ABF Creative, a multicultural kids and family podcast network and production company.

Aisha Glover, Vice President of Urban Innovations for Audible’s Global Center for Urban Development, said the relocation grants and housing subsidies are available to founders of any background.

However, she added that the initiative and program does have a focus.

“It’s not saying, “We will not look at and consider others.” It’s just leading with a level of intentionality around access and opportunity and respecting the demographic of the city we’re in,” she said.

“I think Newark can be the Black tech mecca,” she added.