Tech Startups in Orlando: Space, Funding and Talent

The main downtown Orlando option is Tech Hub Orlando on Pine Street, a partnership of the UCF Business Incubation Program, Innovate Orlando and OMG Labs (UCF Business Incubation Program).

A program release dated November 12, 2024 announced the hub as open, after an October soft opening, in a historic building the university has used for decades. At 11,500 square feet, the new space is nearly three times the size of the space in the historic Kress Building that housed the Downtown Incubator and StarterStudio for the two years before (UCF). It offers everything from a desk in a co-working space to full office suites, with five breakout rooms, two lecture halls for 60 people, an auditorium for 150 people and an instructional lab for up to 30 people. StarterStudio, the Florida High Tech Corridor and the Indienomicon Foundation were also named to offer support services in the Orlando building, and at the time of the release nearly three dozen companies were using offices or co-working space there.

The UCF Business Incubation Program reports its own results: since 1999 it has helped over 300 local startup companies graduate into the community, and in 2023 its current clients supported over 1,000 employees and generated over $120 million in revenue, with nineteen companies graduating and remaining in the local community (UCF Business Incubation Program). Those are the program's figures, not an audit.

The second option sits adjacent to the University of Central Florida. The Central Florida Research Park lists UCF Incubator space alongside executive mini-suite lease space, Class A multi-story office lease space, one-story flex buildings and new build-to-suit construction, and says businesses that want a university relationship can buy land there to build or lease office, office and lab, or light manufacturing space (Central Florida Research Park). The downtown Orlando hub is built around co-working desks and office suites, so the park is the option for a company that needs lab or light manufacturing space next to UCF.

The Central Florida Research Park is a 1,027-acre office park adjacent to UCF with 68 buildings, 140 plus companies and 9,500 plus employees, by its own count (Central Florida Research Park).

The park is governed by the Orange County Research and Development Authority, a special district created under Florida Statutes 159.701 to 159.7095 to promote research and development in affiliation with higher education and to finance capital projects for the park (Orange County Research and Development Authority). Its boundaries are the plats of Sections I through IV recorded in the public records of Orange County, and its fiscal year runs October 1 to September 30.

The district publishes its charges. Among the assessments it imposes and collects is a common area maintenance assessment of $2,315 per acre per year. Utility rates listed for the Orange County park are water at $4.80 per 1,000 gallons and sewer at $8.30 per 1,000 gallons, with connection fees of $9.43 and $17.98 per gallon (Orange County Research and Development Authority).

The park office answers at 407-282-3944. One practical note: the Orlando research park's own pages print the street number both as 1424 and as 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 100, ZIP 32826, so a visitor should confirm the number by phone before relying on a map pin (Central Florida Research Park).

The five Orange County technology industries in the table below averaged more than 22,700 private jobs in 2025, and the wider computer systems design and related services group alone had 14,333 jobs, according to QCEW annual averages (BLS QCEW).

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages counts jobs by place of work across Orange County, so Orlando, Winter Park and the UCF area all fall in the same total. Industry names follow the BLS NAICS titles list (BLS industry titles).

Average pay in every Orange County industry in the table is well above the private average of $70,495 (BLS QCEW). Custom computer programming services had 777 establishments, the largest count in the table, while software publishers averaged under 8 jobs per establishment. Software publishers paid the highest average in the table, $190,428 a year. The research and development line, at 4,944 jobs across 94 establishments, averaged about 53 jobs per establishment, the largest ratio in the table.

The 2025 figures also show a split worth knowing. Software publishing jobs in Orange County rose 8.4 percent and systems design rose 1.8 percent, while custom programming fell 5.1 percent and data processing and hosting fell 29.9 percent (BLS QCEW). A founder hiring in Orlando should read those as county totals for the year, not as a forecast.

Creative Village is a 68-acre, city-owned innovation district in the historic Parramore heritage neighborhood of Orlando, anchored by the Orlando Studio for Electronic Arts, UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown (City of Orlando).

The City of Orlando describes it as a public-private partnership with Creative Village Development, LLC as master developer, and says that when complete it will represent $2 billion in new development and hold up to 900,000 square feet of office and creative space, 800,000 square feet of higher education space, more than 2,000 residential units, 1,500 student housing beds, 100,000 square feet of retail and 225 hotel rooms (City of Orlando).

Electronic Arts relocated its Orlando Studio to Creative Village in the fall of 2021 on a long-term lease of a nearly $60 million, privately developed, 175,940 square foot office building, bringing nearly 1,000 high-wage jobs; the city calls it the largest corporate relocation in downtown Orlando in decades (City of Orlando). The talent pipeline is next door: UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown opened in August 2019 on nearly 15 acres the city set aside, and serve nearly 8,000 students in digital media, communication, public services and health-related programs.

Transit is the other draw. Creative Village is adjacent to SunRail and LYNX Central Station and a five-minute walk to the Central Business District (City of Orlando). What is changing: the master developer controls the land through a Master Development Agreement and Purchase Option Agreement that runs through 2031, and Phase II of vertical development, more than $365 million in development activity, is planned to begin soon. The same city page still says The Beacon at Creative Village, a 106-unit mixed-income development, was expected to begin construction in 2023 and be complete in 2024, so its phase timing reads as out of date.

The federal research award program open to Orlando startups is SBIR and STTR, which the U.S. Small Business Administration coordinates and 11 participating federal agencies fund (U.S. Small Business Administration).

Each participating agency runs its own SBIR and STTR program within guidelines set by Congress. As of October 16, 2026, agencies may issue a Phase I award up to $335,937 and a Phase II award up to $2,239,578, including modifications, without seeking SBA approval, and any larger award needs a waiver (U.S. Small Business Administration). The Florida High Tech Corridor's own guide for Orlando and other Florida applicants shows Phase I as up to $400,000 over 6 to 12 months and Phase II as $750,000 to $1.8 million over 24 months, so the two pages do not match and the solicitation of the agency being applied to settles the amount (Florida High Tech Corridor).

FL FAST, which the Corridor calls Florida's only SBA-designated SBIR and STTR support program, offers free coaching, proposal support and agency matching to Florida small businesses, and reports 725 plus clients served statewide and more than $70 million secured by Florida companies with its help (Florida High Tech Corridor). Those are the program's own totals. The Corridor Matching Grants Research Program matches a company's direct research investment dollar for dollar up to $150,000 when the company is in the 23-county Corridor region and holds an active SBIR or STTR award paired with a UCF or USF research partnership; the money goes to the university research team, not to the company, which makes a UCF faculty partner worth lining up early for an Orlando company.

Every business inside Orlando city limits needs a City of Orlando Business Tax Receipt before it opens, usually with a Certificate of Use, plus a separate Orange County receipt (City of Orlando).

The city lays out the steps. First, use the zoning check to confirm the address is inside city limits and the business can operate there. The city then sends a billing summary within 10 business days, and the receipt and Certificate of Use are mailed after payment. Residential uses, mobile businesses and state-regulated individual professionals in a professional office do not need a Certificate of Use. City receipts expire September 30, with renewal invoices sent the week of July 1 (City of Orlando). Permitting Services is at 400 South Orange Avenue, 1st Floor, phone 407.246.2204, open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Orange County Tax Collector's Office answers county receipt questions at 407.434.0312.

For a company building out space, the Orlando Business Assistance Program is a matching grant: the business pays 50 percent of the development fees assessed against it, such as sewer and transportation impact fees and building permit fees, and the program pays the other 50 percent up to $20,000 (City of Orlando). Applicants must be new or expanding for-profit businesses in the city that meet the SBA small business definition and hold a City of Orlando Business Tax Receipt, or obtain one within 90 days of the agreement for a new business. Technology and communication industries are on the eligible list; home-based businesses are on the ineligible list, so a company still run from a home does not qualify. Questions go to the Economic Development Department at 407.246.2821.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, with fresh reads of the Orlando permitting and incentive pages, the BLS QCEW county file, the SBA SBIR program page and the research park district's own disclosures.