Our workspace, formerly a 100-year-old tobacco warehouse, is located in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood. Originally purchased by two of Startup Virginia’s founders, they believed that the region would benefit from having a signature place where startups could work together on building their businesses. In March 2017, the building was sold to Capital One, who also wanted to invest in a place where inspiration, community, and innovation would intersect.

A year later, Startup Virginia moved into the 1717 Innovation Center as the lead tenant and occupies the first three floors of the building for educational programming, events, offices and open workspace for innovator members. Capital One allowed Startup Virginia to ‘start strong’ instead of ‘start small’ by relieving its founders of the burden of renovating the building and instead, focus on creating a strong incubator to support startups.

1717 is fueled by Capital One’s Future Edge community initiative, which empowers Americans to succeed in the digital economy. Each of the six floors features a theme symbolic of Richmond neighborhoods: Scott’s Addition, Manchester, The Fan, Church Hill, Jackson Ward, and Shockoe Bottom.

The building also features a community boardroom, meeting rooms, open workspace, and a rooftop event space with a skyline view of downtown Richmond. Community organizations, nonprofits, and civic groups can reserve the free community space at 1717 for conferences and community events through Capital One.