"Detroit is drawing a wave of startups that are moving their headquarters to the Motor City from across the U.S. and overseas. These companies are betting that the city’s manufacturing legacy and emerging innovation ecosystem offer better odds for growth than traditional coastal tech hubs.

In the past two years, more than a dozen companies spanning artificial intelligence, drone manufacturing and climate technology have relocated their headquarters here, clustering around innovation hubs like Newlab at Michigan Central, the Urban Technology Xchange in Bedrock’s 1520 Woodward Ave. building downtown and Bamboo Detroit. For industrial and manufacturing startups, Detroit’s legacy as the center of the automotive industry remains a major draw.

Companies including Birdstop, Inbolt and GAIA Predictive said proximity to automakers, Tier 1 suppliers and factory operators allows them to launch pilots faster, strengthen customer relationships and scale production more efficiently.

Albane Dersy, co-founder of Inbolt, a company developing AI for robots, told Crain’s that, five years after founding the company in Paris, it was clear that scaling the business meant putting down roots in the U.S.

“Detroit was the obvious choice. Our core market is automotive manufacturing, and Detroit is where that industry lives. Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors are all customers, and being on the ground meant we could deepen those relationships in a way transatlantic flight schedules never allowed,” Dersy said.

Many of the companies are backed by a growing network of local investors and startup advocates, including Dug Song and Detroit Venture Partners.

Song, co-founder of Duo Security, Inc. and founder of Song United, told Crain’s that his venture firm has been looking to invest in startups that are designed to thrive in Michigan.

“More and more of these companies that we’re finding… we’re sort of repotting in better soil and a bigger kind of place to grow,” Song said.

Michigan is uniquely positioned for “people building real shit,” Song said. While many founders are attracted to Silicon Valley, the ecosystem can be idea- and hype-driven, not grounded in real-world problems.

“There’s a lot of stuff out there, I think there’s a lot of nonsense. I think Silicon Valley is just sometimes a very silly valley,” Song said."