Chattanooga Finds Fresh Identity as a Tech, VC Hub

Source: WSJ

Chattanooga, Tenn., one of the first places in the nation to install a citywide fiber-optic gigabit-speed internet cable, boomed during the pandemic thanks to an influx of remote workers and venture capital-backed startups, its mayor said.

Tim Kelly, a businessman and startup founder who was inaugurated in April of last year, said the city received approximately 10,000 new residents between March 2020 and August 2021, according to a survey of people who initiated electric service at that time. He credited remote working during the pandemic for the increase, adding that transplants were drawn to Chattanooga by its superfast internet and high quality of life.



Chattanooga is one of the many smaller U.S. cities whose populations grew or held steady last year, while most of the country’s biggest cities experienced deepening population declines as the pandemic continued to encourage Americans to search for more space, according to census estimates released Thursday. As of July 2021, Chattanooga had about 182,000 people, up slightly from July 2020, the census figures showed.

The city made early tech investments in 2010 when EPB of Chattanooga, the city-owned power distribution and telecommunications company, rolled out a gigabit-speed fiber-optic backbone. In 2015, the network was juiced to offer speeds of up to 10 gigabits a second.



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