{"id":63339,"date":"2026-03-04T00:26:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T05:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63339"},"modified":"2026-03-04T00:26:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T05:26:44","slug":"impressive-growth-of-catapult-lakelands-primary-business-incubator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/04\/impressive-growth-of-catapult-lakelands-primary-business-incubator\/","title":{"rendered":"Impressive growth of Catapult, Lakeland\u2019s primary business incubator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

That headline refers to the impressive growth of Catapult<\/strong>, Lakeland\u2019s primary business incubator, which recently announced that its member startups generated $27 million in total revenue<\/strong> during 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As of March 2026, Catapult continues to be a central engine for the local economy. Here is a breakdown of the impact reported by the organization:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Performance Metrics (2025)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Revenue:<\/strong> Over $27 million<\/strong> generated by member businesses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Job Creation:<\/strong> The startups collectively employed 303 people<\/strong> last year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Scale:<\/strong> The incubator served 280 businesses<\/strong>, ranging from tech startups to culinary ventures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Success Story:<\/strong> One notable alum, Screen Skinz<\/strong>, recently returned to Lakeland for its headquarters after raising a $1.5 million seed round.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    What Makes It Work?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Located in downtown Lakeland near Lake Mirror, Catapult isn’t just a co-working space; it\u2019s a “maker” hub. Its 40,000-square-foot facility<\/strong> provides resources that are usually too expensive for solo founders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Specialized Labs:<\/strong> A commercial kitchen, woodshop, metal shop, 3D-printing lab, and a textile room.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Shared Infrastructure:<\/strong> Access to “micro-factory” space for prototyping and small-scale manufacturing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Funding Pathways:<\/strong> Programs like “Catapult Launch” provide micro-grants and lending paths for founders who might not yet qualify for traditional bank loans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      The Big Picture<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      President Christin Strawbridge notes that while many entrepreneurs have the “grit” to build anywhere, the incubator’s goal is to shorten the learning curve<\/strong> and provide a community that prevents the isolation often felt by new founders. This strategy seems to be paying off, as the facility is currently funded about 50% by membership dues and 50% through community partnerships and private donors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      That headline refers to the impressive growth of Catapult, Lakeland\u2019s primary business incubator, which recently announced that its member startups generated $27 million in total revenue during 2025. As of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"4","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcLzAyMTBfYm45X2NhdGFwdWx0LWZhY2lsaXR5LWxha2VsYW5kanBnLndlYnA_Zml0PTEwMjQlMkM1NzYmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJJbXByZXNzaXZlIGdyb3d0aCBvZiBDYXRhcHVsdCwgTGFrZWxhbmRcdTIwMTlzIHByaW1hcnkgYnVzaW5lc3MgaW5jdWJhdG9yIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.fALcK-V-rccFzL09O2t8-4LRvJ_vj5duz8Xdq9YL7nQMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[13917,13918],"class_list":["post-63339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-impressive-growth-of-catapult","tag-lakelands-primary-business-incubator"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63341,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63339\/revisions\/63341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}