Our Mission

We help founders move faster with the structure, support, and community they need to grow.

Founder Growth Comes First

Everything we do should help founders move forward. We focus on giving them access to the tools, guidance, and relationships that lead to stronger decisions, real progress, and healthier companies.

Challenges Are Part of the Work

Startups rarely move in a straight line. We believe friction can be useful when founders have the support, accountability, and perspective to turn hard moments into smarter next steps.

Championing Diversity

A stronger startup ecosystem includes founders from different backgrounds, industries, and lived experiences. We want Innovation Depot to be a place where more people can build, contribute, and grow.

Where Ambition Turns Into Traction

Innovation Depot exists to help serious founders build serious companies in Birmingham. Our goal is to create a high-performance environment where startups can move faster, gain traction, and grow with the right support around them. Through structured pathways, expert guidance, and access to the people and resources that matter, we want to help founders turn ideas into real companies, build strong teams, and create lasting impact in the city. Innovation Depot should be known as the place where ambitious builders come to do the work, raise the bar, and keep moving forward.

Our History

Founded through a public-private partnership in 1987, Innovation Depot is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tech incubator in Birmingham, Alabama. The Depot is located at 1500 1st Ave N in a 140,000 square foot building that previously served as a Sears department store. When it opened in 1941, the facility was hailed as the largest single-floor department store in the United States. Innovation Depot purchased and renovated the building in 2006 and opened its doors to tenants in 2007. Today, it serves a different kind of builder; founders creating what comes next.

If you are a tech founder, and you're not at Innovation Depot, you're missing out. The Depot is the best place to grow; their access to resources, the building, events, etc., make it the perfect place to call home.

Braden Crow, Kraven

We help founders move faster with the structure, support, and community they need to grow.

Founder Growth Comes First

Challenges Are Part of the Work

Championing Diversity

Where Ambition Turns Into Traction

Grateful for the Generous Donors Who Make Our Mission Possible

2025 Annual Report

Our History

Our Companies

Membership

Programs

Events

About the Depot

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