2023 a year to remember for Asheville startup businesses

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Tyler Kotch, founder and owner of Pie.Zaa in downtown Asheville, just enjoyed his best year of business yet.

“2023 for us was a huge year,” he said.

And it’s set him, and his business, up for a big step in 2024.

“Into 2024, we’re expanding into Charlotte,” Kotch said.

But it wasn’t just one pizza shop that had a 2023 to remember.

Many businesses did thanks in large part to the efforts of Venture Asheville — a branch of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce.

“This year, total revenue of our Venture 15 companies was over $108 million,” Venture Executive Director Jeffrey Kaplan said. “And they employ almost 300 people.”

On top of that, Kaplan expects 200 more jobs to come from startups in the new year.

And those are just the results from the top 15 startup companies under Venture Asheville.

ASHEVILLE STARTUPS MAKE BIG RETURNS, GROUP SAYS

High-growth hospitality, wellness and health care, outdoor products, and tech were all boom areas in 2023, according to Kaplan. He said another reason for growth more people who had been to Asheville before decided to return to town for good.

“People who have visited us in the past are coming back,” Kaplan said. “Now, we have such high in-migration of talented and smart folks that are starting, working for, mentoring, and investing in companies.”

Venture looks forward to building on the millions of dollars of success this year. To do that, it’s starting with trying to turn more employees into entrepreneurs.

“We’re programming towards that with conferences for the community next year,” Kaplan said. “We’re partnering with Mars Hill University. They just launched Case Entrepreneurial Leadership. We think this will be the big theme for the going year.”

Venture Asheville’s first thing to look forward to in 2024 is Asheville Restaurant Week, which happens the third week in January.

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