When a Company Invests in an Underdog City

Tech startups like Bitwise Industries help underdog cities like Fresno, California make a comeback.

Bitwise runs tech centers and incubators for start-ups and forges training partnerships with local schools. The company opened its first office in Fresno, in the heart of California’s farm-dense but financially struggling Central Valley. Companies like Bitwise bolstered Fresn0’s recent financial and cultural revival by extending the opportunities that come with technological skills to people who don’t always have access to learning those skills.

America has underdog cities in every region; smaller cities with a lot to offer, but whose residents feel progress bypassed their towns. 

As Bitwise expands, it looks to other underdog cities.

Bitwise raised $27 million in 2019 and opened centers in Oakland, Merced and Bakersfield, underdog cities in California. Now, with...