Omaha’s Millwork Commons gets a new tenant: a ‘startup accelerator’

By: Paul Hammel - June 9, 2022 2:24 pm

The Mastercraft Building in the Millwork Commons district of north downtown Omaha is where the new NMotion office is to locate. (Courtesy of Scott Drickey)

LINCOLN — A Capital City company that has helped Lincoln-based startups blossom into major businesses announced Thursday that it is expanding statewide and opening a new office in Omaha’s expanding Millwork Commons district.

Officials with NMotion, powered by gener8tor, said they are planning $3.7 million in new investments over the next two years to help start and grow 24 Nebraska startups.

According to the NMotion website, the startup accelerator has helped 72 early-stage companies since 2013— including QuantifiedAg, Nobl Health, RealmFive, Liveby, LeverageRX and Bumper— with investment, support and mentorship.

Startups and small businesses compete for placement in the accelerator programs. Successful bidders each receive $100,000 investments from NMotion through gener8tor’s venture fund and through a state program, Invest Nebraska, that helps startups.

“By serving startups, NMotion will help generate even more great-paying jobs to help retain our graduates and recruit new talent to our state,” said Gov. Pete Ricketts at a Thursday morning press conference in Lincoln.

He thanked the investors “whose generosity is allowing NMotion to accelerate the growth of young companies in Nebraska.”

Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird also praised NMotion for helping entrepreneurs grow their dreams and for accelerating economic activity in the “hub of the Silicon Prairie.”

Millwork Commons, located near Omaha’s Charles Schwab Field (formerly TD Ameritrade Park), is a roughly 50-acre neighborhood sprouting on a forgotten industrial tract of north downtown. The new office for nMotion will be in the Mastercraft Building.

The Millwork area has more than 60 companies and nonprofits and is designed to be a home for entrepreneurs, techies and innovators.

Just recently, the $35-million Dizzy Mule project — named after an old mule barn located there — was announced to turn both new and historic structures into 172 apartments and spaces for artists and retailers.

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Paul Hammel

Senior Reporter Paul Hammel has covered the Nebraska state government and the state for decades. Previously with the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha Sun, he is a member of the Omaha Press Club's Hall of Fame. He grows hops, brews homemade beer, plays bass guitar and basically loves traveling and writing about the state. A native of Ralston, Nebraska, he is vice president of the John G. Neihardt Foundation.