Audible strives to make a positive impact because it believes that companies can—and should—have missions that transcend financial success. Audible’s Global Center for Urban Innovation drives its social impact strategy, innovating for its neighbors and neighborhoods, developing opportunities for youth, and fostering the next generation of storytellers. Many of the Center’s efforts are focused on Audible’s headquarter city of Newark, New Jersey, where it works to support a vibrant downtown neighborhood anchored by thriving local businesses, innovation, art, and cultural diversity. Its initiatives work to sustain businesses, create jobs, and attract foot traffic, having generated close to one billion dollars in economic activity.
A key pillar in this work is Audible’s Business Attraction Program, designed to spur economic development by helping diverse, innovative companies relocate or expand within Newark – with a focus on founders of color and female founders. Because Black-founded companies typically receive only 1% of venture funding nationally (and female founders receive 1.9%), the program aims to increase opportunities for founders who might not otherwise access critical resources like financial support and executive mentorship. These efforts aim to leverage Newark’s unmatched data infrastructure, boost local spending to preserve and create jobs, increase retail and commercial occupancy rates, and equitably grow the city’s innovation and retail ecosystem - while empowering diverse founders and leading the way in Newark's resurgence.
Audible’s Business Attraction Program, launched in August 2023, is designed to help diverse, innovative companies relocate or expand within Newark - with a focus on founders of color and female founders. With Black-founded and female-founded companies typically each receiving less than 2% of venture funding nationally, Audible’s Business Attraction Program supports historically marginalized founders by offering financial incentives and other resources for companies looking to plant roots in Newark, with a strong belief in the promise of their success. The program aims to lead the way in Newark’s resurgence by thoughtfully and equitably growing the tech and innovation ecosystem, empowering diverse founders, and supporting the local economy.
With a comprehensive multi-point impact approach, the program offers each eligible company up to $250,000 in non-dilutive grants for office space or fit-out costs, ‘Live Local’ grants of $500/month (for 12 months) for employees who live in Newark, ‘Shop Local’ stipends of $200/month for three months, relocation assistance, and AWS subsidies offered through the AWS Activate program. The program also offers business mentorship with Audible executives on topics such as operations, finance, marketing, and technology, and curated networking events with other businesses, investors, and founders.These ‘Live Local’ employee benefits are an extension of Audible’s successful Live Local program, which offers a $500 per month after-tax rent subsidy for its employees who choose to live in Newark.
In developing the program, difficulty lay in ensuring that Audible collaborated effectively with state, city, and corporate stakeholders to shape an initiative that addresses the unique needs of its target demographic. In the spirit of collective impact, Audible leaned into collaborative leadership, joint planning, and consensus decision-making as it worked with organizations such as the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, Choose NJ, Invest Newark, the Newark Alliance, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to effectively support program companies and foster a pipeline of eligible startups. Ultimately, it was the diversity of perspectives and expertise from each contributor that enabled Audible to shape a program that drives value for businesses and the broader Newark economy and community.
As of September 2024, 15 companies have already joined the program across the innovation, hospitality, and entertainment sectors. Audible has already committed almost $3 million to the program - and this number continues to grow. Since joining, these businesses have also raised more than $1M in additional commitments, demonstrating the program’s far-reaching benefits in helping companies scale, increase local hiring, and contribute to Newark’s economy.
Startups include ABF Creative a multicultural kids and family podcast network and production company; AlphaROC, a provider of AI-based data insights and analytics; bckers, AI-native information services company that assesses the performance, integrity, and risk of organizations; co:census, a collaborative, cloud-based workspace for urban planning and design; Equal Space, a 50,000 square-foot, multi-floor coworking space; Fitnescity, a consumer health startup offering wellness tests and personal analytics; Gymble, a fitness app that offers facility rentals and personal training; pocstock, a diversity content company focused on positive images featuring people of color; and Stimulus, an AI-powered relationship intelligence (SaaS) platform that helps companies make the best purchasing decisions. In the retail and entertainment sector, the program has attracted BLVD Bistro, the second location of the esteemed Harlem-based comfort food destination; Casa de Flora bar, a cafe that sells flowers and coffee and hosts events; the Den, a private gym for trainers and their clients; Melbas 500, a comfort food restaurant and catering service; Newark Culture Club, a cocktail bar, comedy, and entertainment venue; and Sweet Jeans Macaron + Coffee Bar, which will offer coffee, pastries, and community events.
