Round Rock Chamber Participates in Austin Startup Week

Sponsors “New to Austin” Track Targeting Entrepreneurs New to the Austin Region

Last week, the Round Rock Chamber partnered with the Capital Factory to participate for the first time in the 11^th Annual Austin Startup Week. Austin Startup Week is a celebration and showcase of everything entrepreneurial in the Austin region. Each year, the Capital Factory brings entrepreneurs and local leaders together to connect, collaborate and grow through educational tracks, mentors, startup showcases and networking opportunities.

The Chamber was a lead sponsor of the “New to Austin” track, which targets entrepreneurs and companies who are new to the area which allowed us the opportunity to introduce the audience to Round Rock, promote our business-friendly environment and encourage them to scale their businesses in our community.

In addition, the Chamber invited Brandon Cates, President & CEO of Ametrine, to represent Round Rock on the “Why I Moved My Company to Austin” panel in the “New to Austin” track to discuss why he selected Round Rock as the location for his growing company.

Ametrine, a military-grade, high-tech camouflage startup, initially moved from Israel to Maryland. After Brandon joined as CEO, his team set up a matrix of needs and examined 12 to 15 cities based on quality of workforce, education, academic partnership opportunities and proximity to its end users, the military. Ametrine’s leadership team ultimately selected Round Rock and relocated the company in early 2021.

When Brandon was asked why he chose Round Rock he said, “Whatever it is, anytime I think of a need, I know there’s somebody in this community around here that I can call and they will connect me,” he said. “They’ll be one or two steps away from the right person to help me with that problem, software stuff, whatever it is. That was something that we did not account for in our decision making. It’s been amazing.”

In addition to participating in the panel discussion, the Chamber had the opportunity to participate in exclusive and engaging dinners with new to Austin founders. Community representatives spoke to Round Rock’s budding entrepreneurial spirit, where accessing Austin is easy, operating costs are low and the headaches related to doing business are few.

The Round Rock Chamber looks forward to partnering with Capital Factory again in the future and continuing to showcase that Round Rock is where you can get it on the ground floor, grab hold of the opportunities that await, and reach your entrepreneurial dreams.