Google today announced that it plans to set up a new space for developers and startups at 301 Howard Street in San Francisco, just a few blocks from its main San Francisco office on Spear Street.
The idea here is to provide a 14,000 square-foot space (which accounts for about one floor in the building) for the next class of Google’s equity-free Launchpad Accelerator and to offer an event space for Google Developer Group community meetups, Codelabs, Design Sprints, and Tech Talks. Dropcam, which Google acquired back in 2014, already has some office space in 301 Howard, but as far as I can see, the company doesn’t currently lease any other space in the building.
“This dedicated space will enable us to regularly engage with developers and serve their evolving needs, whether that is to build a product, grow a company or make revenue,” the company writes in today’s announcement.
The exact details about the project remain sparse and Google says it will share more details at an event in the coming weeks.
The Launchpad Accelerator has 50 alumni in India, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico already and a Google spokesperson told us that the company hopes that this space will help “bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and startups from emerging markets around the world to understand their local/global challenges and share resources.” The next Launchpad class will feature over 20 teams and the three-month program includes a two-week bootcamp at Google HQ.
It’s worth noting that Amazon’s AWS unit also runs a similar space on Market Street in San Francisco where it, too, offers training and one-on-one help. Similarly, Microsoft’s Reactor space in San Francisco is also open to developers who want to know more about its cloud services, platforms and devices.