.png)
The 43North Foundation today set an ambitious new goal: turning its $100 million investment into $5 billion in economic impact for Buffalo over the next decade
In tangible terms, that impact will come from startups that stay and scale here, established businesses making new investments and outside businesses that are attracted to Buffalo. The goal is to leverage the success of 43North, which proved that Buffalo can support transformative tech companies, to make Buffalo a nationally competitive innovation economy.
Leading that effort will be Colleen E. Heidinger, currently President of 43North, who will become the Foundation's next Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2027. She will succeed Sarah Tanbakuchi-Ripa, who joined the Foundation in January 2025 with a mandate to turn its strategy into active investment in Buffalo, and is fulfilling her two-year commitment to the role.
The appointment is the result of a long, thorough national search led by the Foundation's Board of Directors. Heidinger will assume the CEO role effective January 1, 2027; both she and Tanbakuchi-Ripa will remain in their current positions through the end of this year to ensure a smooth, orderly transition.
"This work belongs to hundreds of founders, investors, and partners across this community who believed Buffalo could compete, long before the results proved them right," said Bill Maggio, Chairman of the 43North Foundation Board. "We've been thinking about this moment for some time, watching 43North reach its natural high point, and choosing to hand off there, not past it. We ran a deliberate, national search, and Colleen was the clear choice to carry this forward. Sarah built the strategy that made this handoff possible; Colleen built the relationships that will carry it. Between them, this Foundation has exactly what it needs for its next chapter."
The Foundation is investing across four key strategies to strengthen every part of Buffalo's innovation economy:
The investments include:
The leadership transition comes at a defining moment for the Foundation. Its portfolio includes ACV Auctions, a 2015 43North winner and Buffalo's first technology unicorn, which has grown to more than 600 local employees and went public in 2021 at a valuation of $3.8 billion.
43North's influence has extended well beyond its own portfolio, too: Board members played a key role in encouraging Odoo, a $7 billion global software company, to establish its North American headquarters in Buffalo, where it now employs more than 425 people, with plans to grow past 700 by 2028.
Founded in 2014, 43North launched as the world's largest startup competition, built to jump-start an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a city that had spent decades being counted out, and that never stopped believing it had more to give. That success created the 43North Foundation, funded not by a single donor but by returns from 43North's own portfolio. A decade later, 43North hasn't just met its original goal, it has exceeded it, and the Foundation's model is increasingly viewed as a blueprint other cities can study.
ACV Auctions isn't the only success story in the portfolio:
• Guidesly moved its HQ from Boston to Buffalo, raised a $10 million Series A in 2025, and is doubling its 16-person team
• FoodNerd raised $7.5 million this year while expanding into a 28,000-square-foot facility
• Top Seedz, Bounce Imaging, Cosi Care, and Twipes have all hit significant growth milestones this year
That model is already producing results, not just promises. Radial Ventures, the Foundation's venture studio, is creating the next generation of Buffalo startups. Its first company, Makeoff, led by founder and CEO Will Zacher, has found early traction with large electrical contractors, running three paid enterprise pilots and identifying tens of millions of dollars in estimating errors on its platform, while 10 new company concepts are rapidly moving from idea to market, including three that have launched early sales.
"We built ACV on a problem nobody in Silicon Valley knew existed, and it turned into Buffalo's first unicorn. That's the whole model: real problems, real companies, built here, said Dan Magnuszewski, co-founder ACV Auctions and CEO Radial Ventures. “43North gave me the opportunity to scale ACV, and now, as CEO of Radial Ventures, I get to create that same opportunity for the next generation of founders, systematically, not by chance. Colleen has been in the trenches with our founders for years, helping them navigate everything from fundraising to finding their footing in Buffalo, and handing this next chapter to someone who's been doing that work all along is exactly right."
"Buffalo made a real case for itself: talent, cost, and a genuine partnership with the local business community,” said Nick Kosinski, Managing Director, Odoo. “Getting connected directly to 43North's board early on let me see that ecosystem firsthand, not just hearing about it, and that made it easy to bring our leadership team along. That's why we're still growing here."
Heidinger has been with 43North for more than a decade, serving as its President for nearly seven years. Under her leadership, the organization has become a defining part of Buffalo's innovation economy, and a model that's earned national recognition. Most recently, she was admitted to the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program, a two-year program designed to accelerate innovator success through peer learning, and a structured curriculum.
Born and raised in Buffalo's First Ward, she studied entrepreneurship at Babson College, began her career in management consulting, advising nonprofit clients on entrepreneurial strategy, then spent a decade in New York City and Los Angeles in film and television before returning home to Buffalo, and joining 43North.
She remains deeply engaged in the community: she serves on several philanthropic boards, helps shape entrepreneurial curricula at the high school and collegiate level, and restored a historic 1906 building in Buffalo’s historic Larkinville neighborhood, alongside her father. An entrepreneur at heart, she also launched her own yoga studio in that same Larkinville building, putting into practice the instinct she champions in every founder 43North backs.
“This is the beginning of our most important chapter, and I'm building on a foundation Sarah spent two years laying with real care,” said Heidinger. “I'm incredibly proud of what we've built here over the past decade, real companies, real jobs, real proof that Buffalo can compete on a national stage. We are already investing, in tangible terms, in the four things that make momentum last: new companies, homegrown talent, corporate partnerships, and Buffalo's own story, together, not separately. And we're aiming high: $5 billion in economic impact for this region over the next ten years. Now we have $100 million to invest, an ambitious goal, and a clear mandate: make Buffalo one of the best places in the country to build a great company.”
43North's own accelerator competition will hold its final Finals on October 8, 2026, capping 12 years of programming that helped establish Buffalo as a viable home for high-growth startups. The Foundation's work continues well beyond that milestone, a permanent, ongoing investment rather than an annual competition. Programming for 43North's 2027 cohort will continue through the full year.
43North Foundation: Key Facts at a Glance
The Decade Behind
• Nearly 80 startups supported since 2014
• 3,000+ jobs created, including close to 1,000 in Western New York
• $1B in additional investments in 43N portfolio companies. • Average wages near $90,000, well above the ~$56,000 regional average
• 46% founders of color; 26% women-founded
• ACV Auctions: Buffalo's first tech unicorn, $3.8B IPO in 2021
• Odoo: 425+ local jobs and growing, drawn to Buffalo in part through 43North's influence
The Decade Ahead
• $100 million Foundation investment, 2025 to 2035
• Goal: $5 billion in economic impact for Buffalo over the next decade
• New leadership effective January 1, 2027, under CEO Colleen E. Heidinger
• Radial Ventures: 10 new concepts moving to market (3 with early sales); Makeoff has three enterprise pilots running, tens of millions in estimating errors identified
• TechBuffalo: formal Foundation affiliate as of August 1, 2026, deepening the talent pipeline
• 43North's 2027 cohort will receive full programming and support through the year
About the 43North Foundation
The 43North Foundation is a $100 million, 10-year commitment to building Buffalo's innovation economy, funded by the success of 43North's portfolio companies, including ACV Auctions. The Foundation operates through four pillars: Radial Ventures, a venture studio building new high-growth companies; TechBuffalo, a talent development engine; Corporate Connectivity, which engages the region's established business community; and Series B, the community's storytelling platform for tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship, funded by the Foundation. Learn more at 43northfoundation.org.
About 43North
43North is an accelerator program that hosts an annual startup competition, investing $5 million per year to attract and cultivate high-growth companies in Buffalo, New York. 43North portfolio companies also receive free incubator space in Buffalo for one year, guidance from mentors in related fields, and access to other business incentive programs. 43North operates through the support of Governor Kathy Hochul, the M&T Bank Foundation and several other sponsors. Funding for 43North program activities has been provided in part by Empire State Development. For more information about 43North, visit www.43north.org.
Media Contact
Maya Dillon, American Dream Ventures LLC
maya@theamericandreamventures.com | (917) 615-7094
