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Article Summary: A new Covington startup fellowship will give 10 founders a year of six months at SparkHaus, Covington Business Council membership, and introductions to local advisers. Its focus on outside talent reveals the next phase of Northern Kentucky’s startup strategy: filling a hub built with public money with people willing to build companies there.
The old Sims Furniture building at 727 Madison Avenue now holds 34 private offices.
It also includes venture-capital firms, startup teams, and a coffee shop.
Covington and Kenton County spent years assembling the money and partnerships to turn the 51,000-square-foot property into SparkHaus. Now the Covington Business Council Foundation is helping Blue North recruit the people who will fill it — through a new Covington startup fellowship.
The fellowship gives selected founders six months of workspace at SparkHaus, membership in the Covington Business Council and admission to three of the council’s monthly networking luncheons. The foundation plans to award 10 fellowships a year, in two rounds of five.
The program welcomes any applicant, but Blue North will favor entrepreneurs considering a move from outside Greater Cincinnati. That distinction turns the fellowship into more than discounted coworking. Moreover, it’s a small-scale founder-recruitment program that builds on one of Northern Kentucky’s largest recent bets on entrepreneurship. This initiative fits within the region’s broader emerging-tech and startup momentum.
The Covington Startup Fellowship Adds People to the Building
SparkHaus opened in September 2025 after a $16 million redevelopment led by the Northern Kentucky Port Authority, Blue North, Kenton County, and other partners. Kentucky put in $6 million; foundations, corporations and individual donors covered the rest. (NKPA)
The building has more than 170 desks, over 30 private offices, meeting rooms, event space and a public café. (LINK nky) Five venture-capital firms have also committed to a presence there. Thus, founders now work within walking distance of investors rather than simply renting another desk. (NKyTribune)
The fellowship addresses a problem that follows any project like SparkHaus: a renovated building doesn’t create an entrepreneurial community on its own. Blue North can supply offices and programming, but startup ecosystems run on repeated contact among founders, investors, customers and people who know how to solve early-stage problems. So the Covington Business Council is using its existing membership to build that second layer.
Executive Director Pat Frew said fellows will attend networking luncheons where they can meet people who can offer services, direction and local connections.
We want them to connect. We want them to meet people, Frew said. Northern Kentucky is a fabulous area, maybe stronger than any other place in the region, where people connect and willingly give of themselves to others.
Northern Kentucky Is Trying to Import Founders
Greater Cincinnati’s economic-development conversation usually centers on retaining graduates, attracting established employers or persuading companies to relocate an office. Yet, this program starts earlier, before a founder ever runs a formal search.
Blue North and the CBC Foundation are trying to recruit founders before their companies grow large enough to run a conventional search for a headquarters. Because the fellowship lowers the cost of testing Covington, it can plug newcomers into the local business community right away.
Startups from California and Texas have reportedly visited SparkHaus, and some founders have relocated after seeing the space. Remote companies have also considered it as a central spot where distributed teams can work together in person. Still, the sponsored post announcing the fellowship didn’t name those companies, say how many had relocated, or specify a stipend amount.
Those missing numbers matter. A founder who takes a six-month desk doesn’t necessarily produce lasting jobs, investment, or tax revenue. Furthermore, without named recipients and follow-up reporting, it will be hard to tell whether the fellowship attracts companies that stay in Northern Kentucky or simply subsidizes temporary workspace.
Even so, the strongest case for the program is that the financial risk appears modest compared with what Northern Kentucky has already invested in SparkHaus. Ten short-term fellowships could help Blue North identify companies with real relocation potential, and Covington doesn’t have to offer large tax incentives or direct subsidies to make that happen. The real test comes after the free period ends.
Covington Startup Fellowship Is Selling Access, Not Just Affordability
Frew described Covington as affordable, accessible and welcoming — useful traits in comparison to larger startup markets. However, rent alone rarely decides where an entrepreneur builds a company.
SparkHaus instead packages several things together: workspace, investors, mentors, business contacts and a walkable downtown location just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. That kind of packaging matters more as the wider region works to define its economic identity. This goes beyond any single city or state line.
Blue North Executive Director Dave Knox has said the organization targets high-growth entrepreneurs capable of expanding 20% to 30% annually over a sustained period. (Spectrum News 1) Early SparkHaus commitments included BeyondWill, Builder Backed and Sunflower Fuels — three Northern Kentucky companies. These companies are already listed by the state among its startups to watch. (NKPA)
The fellowship extends that pipeline beyond companies already operating in the region. It also gives the Covington Business Council a role that traditional business associations have struggled to hold onto. Younger founders often build professional relationships online and may never think to join a chamber or attend a monthly luncheon. So the fellowship puts them in the local network before those habits set in. This is a small move, but one that could shape how Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky compete for business across state lines.
That could be Covington’s most valuable recruiting advantage. A founder can rent a desk in nearly any mid-sized city. Yet, it’s harder to reproduce a network where investors, established business owners and early-stage companies regularly share a building. They recognize one another across the room.
Applications will determine who gets the first five fellowships. However, the more important number comes six months later: how many recipients are still working from Madison Avenue, employing people and calling Covington home.
