The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville’s Startup Village in Fayetteville has been so successful it’s spawned a sequel.

Startup Village North will be in The Collaborative, the university’s education and research space adjacent to the Razorback Greenway at 700 SE Fifth St. in Bentonville, according to Brandon Howard, communications and social media specialist in UA’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Startup Village North offers two dozen hot desk workstations, six high-top seats, and two conference rooms that seat up to four guests, with membership including access to The Collaborative’s free parking, Wi-Fi and a self-service kitchenette.

“Opening a second location was motivated by our team’s desire to make free workspace more accessible to entrepreneurs from across our region and introduce them to the resources available at The Collaborative,” said Zoe Buonaiuto, associate director of entrepreneurship initiatives in the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “We’ve received several applications since” announcing Startup Village North at the end of June and “are currently onboarding teams in the space.”

The original Startup Village, now known as Startup Village South, opened in 2019 in the historic Hathcock building at the corner of Block Avenue and Dickson Street. It shares space with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at UA and provides reservable desk and office space, as well as shared services, including a conference room, kitchen, printer, Wi-Fi, phones and mailboxes.

Lapovations and MORE Technologies “graduated” from the space after starting there, and several other burgeoning entrepreneurs utilized the space this year.

“This is a great space, because it really helps me focus,” Warrenesha Arnold, who graduated cum laude with honors distinction from UA’s Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences in May and is the founder of Nyarai Skincare, explained this winter. “When I’m here, I don’t think about anything else — just business.”

“At coffee shops, there are lots of distractions, but this is a dedicated working environment, and I’m incredibly productive here,” Grace Underfanger, a rising senior at the university who established Crimson Fox Design Co., explained this winter. “You don’t have to move everything every time [you work], and I can come here in the middle of the night if I want to, which is very helpful.”

“Networking” inside the village has been one of the most crucial elements for Arnold, she said. For example, she met Underfanger — who later helped her with packaging for some skin care products — in the village.

“I had the [ability] to create what she needed,” Underfanger said. There’s “shared bonding here, because we’re like-minded individuals all really going for it with our businesses.”

Underfanger benefited from the relationships she developed within Startup Village, as well as advice from her fellow entrepreneurs, she said. “I’m a very introverted person, but I’m trying to be more open, and there’s no co-worker drama here, because we’re all trying to do the same thing.”

At Startup Village, “we cheer each other on, which is good for morale,” she added. “It can be challenging juggling a business, school and a part-time job, but that [encouragement] keeps you going.”

As is the case with Startup Village South, the Bentonville iteration will share space with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, giving founders proximity and access to business counsel and other services, according to Howard. Applications for membership are open to “early-stage companies,” defined as scalable, pre-revenue ventures developing a product or service that have limited operational history and minimal market presence — or are in their first year of revenue and are continuing to refine their business model.

University undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, staff and affiliates are welcome to apply, according to Howard. Accepted members are granted an initial six-month term which can be extended for a second six-month term if they demonstrate progress and growth, and the first year of membership is free. For the second year, members will pay a fee of $25 to $50 a month, with the funds going toward program supplies and event-related expenses.