1776 expands empire again, acquires SF-based Hattery

1776’s acquisition of Disruption Corporation less than two weeks ago seemed like a big coup. But now the downtown incubator is at it again, with a westward expansion.

1776 cofounder Evan Burfield announced Wednesday the acquisition of San Francisco-based Hattery, an incubator that was partially acquired by Google in 2013.
Burfield said in a VentureWire story that the cash-and-stock deal would “align the Hattery team with ours around long-term success.” 1776 companies will have access to the Hattery’s resources, and vice versa. Meanwhile, the incubator will be growing its network to 1,200 startups and 45 corporate partners.
“The opportunity to bring Hattery and 1776 together to build a bridge between San Francisco and Washington is an important step as we build a truly global network that supports startups from around the world focused on driving innovation that matters,” cofounder Donna Harris added in company press release.
As in the acquisition of Paul Singh’s VC firm Disruption Corporation, the cofounders of the Hattery will retain a role in operating of the space, joining 1776 as strategic advisers. During its 2013 partial acquisition, which did not include equity purchases, Google had also hired cofounder Joshua To, who founded the Hattery with fellow Google alumni Luis Arbulu (who now works for Samsung) and Josh Mendelsohn.
For now, the space is set to run independently and under the same name, but with an expanded number of programs pursuant to 1776 investments. Next year, the D.C. incubator will be modifying the Hattery’s offering and bringing in regulatory experts to San Francisco.
“Things were too highly concentrated in San Francisco and Silicon Valley,” Mendelsohn told VentureWire. He said he hopes the incubator’s startups will have more global reach through the deal: “It’s a win-win for those of us who believe the tech community can and should be a force for good,” he added in the release.
1776 is “opportunistic” about acquisitions, but does not plan to announce other expansions in the near term, Burfield said.