Silicon Valley startup, Ink Labs, moves headquarters to Lincoln

The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce says start-up company, Ink Labs. inc. has the potential to be the next big start-up in Lincoln.

On Wednesday, the company announced it's moving it's headquarters from the Silicon Valley to the Silicon Prairie.

Ink's signature product, the Ink Smart Station is already being used by students at the University of Nebraska.

The station allows students and staff to print, scan and mail documents and pictures from the kiosk.

The company did a pilot program with the University for six months running parallel with the previous print structure.

On January 1, 2016 co-founder Jonathan Manzi said they were the only show in town. "The pilot was successful. That was our first major client," Manzi said.

Since then, Ink has expanded to 12 college campuses. In effort to continue growing, Ink will move it's headquarters into the Fuse Coworking Building in the Railyard area.

"For us the Midwest provided an amazing opportunity to scale up our supporting operations," Manzi said.

There are three big reasons why Manzi said they wanted to move Ink's headquarters to Lincoln.

The first, is credited to what he calls an "amazing start-up community."

"We look at companies like Hudl, one of the biggest start ups in the Midwest," Manzi said.

The second reason is the quality of life in Lincoln.

The third deals with the University of Nebraska. "To co-create with them, then with students to be right in the backyards of a powerhouse like university of UNL, it makes Lincoln a grand slam," Manzi said.

Governor Ricketts says with Ink moving to Lincoln, it's just another step towards growing Nebraska.

"What we want to do is find more companies like Ink to relocate here," Governor Ricketts said. "That's bringing not only a new company, but new jobs and great paying jobs."

The announcement was made in coordination with the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and Invest Nebraska.

Ink was founded and backed by a Stanford student, the founders of Redbox, the CEO of Zappos, and the president of Warner Bros, who all believe improving small things can lead to big changes. Ink has applied this philosophy, smart technology and a customer-focused model to revolutionize the way students print, and express themselves, on campus.