A century-old warehouse on Birmingham's Morris Avenue has been reborn as a buzzing home for entrepreneurs, thanks to a Nigerian-born tech founder who says he wants the city's 99 neighborhoods to shape its future just as much as its past does. Shegun Otulana, who moved from Lagos, Nigeria to Birmingham in 1998 to study engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, founded Harmony Venture Labs, the company now operating out of the renovated space.
From Engineering Student to Billion-Dollar Exit
Otulana ended up staying in Birmingham long after graduation, meeting his wife in the city and raising his family there, according to WVTM Channel 13. Along the way he built what the station describes as a billion-dollar business. That company was Therapy Brands, a software firm serving mental and behavioral health practices, which Birmingham Times reports Otulana sold to global investment firm KKR for $1.2 billion in May 2021 — though Harmony Venture Labs' own website puts the exit figure at $1.25 billion. Afrotech has characterized the deal as one of the largest software transactions in the Southeast and the largest in Alabama at the time.
Rather than cash out and leave, Otulana founded Harmony Venture Labs, where he now serves as founder and CEO, helping validate, build and launch new startups, as al.com has reported. The firm's headquarters, known as Venture Yards, sits inside a converted warehouse on Morris Avenue, a historic corridor that the al.com piece describes as a collaborative coworking and events space built for innovators.
A Warehouse With a Past Gets a Second Act
The building itself dates to the turn of the 20th century, and Birmingham firm CCR Architecture & Interiors handled the conversion, turning the old masonry structure into Harmony Venture Labs' headquarters, according to designalabama.org. The renovation wrapped up in fall 2023, with crews soda-blasting the wood structure as part of the overhaul, the same account notes. The finished office now includes a library, a game room, a cafeteria-style break room and a covered rooftop lounge — amenities designalabama.org says were built into the space.
The street itself has its own story of reinvention. CCR Architecture notes that many of Morris Avenue's warehouses fell silent as industry shifted away from downtown, but historic preservation gave the corridor new life as a destination; the Morris Avenue District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places back in 1973, per designalabama.org. WVTM 13 reports that the Morris Avenue building now serves as a hub for innovation and collaboration, with Otulana saying it was designed to inspire people to connect, create and solve problems.
Betting on AI and Alabama's Next Generation of Startups
Harmony Venture Labs' focus leans heavily on artificial intelligence, with the company describing itself as a venture studio that works alongside teams to operationalize AI, according to its own site. Otulana has said AI will significantly affect both lives and businesses going forward, per WVTM 13's reporting. The studio also runs AppThink, an entrepreneurship education program aimed at incubators, accelerators and educational institutions, the company's website states.
That mission recently gained a state-backed partner. Innovate Alabama announced in June that it had partnered with Harmony Venture Labs to launch the Innovate Alabama Venture Studio and Fund, with the studio managed by Otulana's Birmingham-based team. The joint venture is targeting sectors including fintech, logistics, agtech, medical technology, industrial systems and construction innovation, and by 2028 the partners aim to launch 10 new companies, attract $10 million in venture capital and generate millions in economic impact statewide, according to Innovate Alabama. Separately, Innovate Alabama has set a goal of launching at least 10 venture-backable companies over the next three years. The partnership, in the organization's own words, is about creating businesses designed to grow in Alabama and stay in Alabama, generating long-term value and local job opportunities.
Betting Big on Birmingham's Own Strengths
Otulana has pointed to healthcare, finance, construction and logistics as industries Birmingham has already established, per WVTM 13, and he's argued the city should embrace those unique strengths rather than try to replicate other tech hubs. He's also stressed the importance of investing in Birmingham's people, saying education can help children understand what's possible, the station reports. He encourages others to build businesses, create jobs, mentor youth and solve local problems — a message rooted in his belief that it's people, not just buildings, who shape a neighborhood's future.
Birmingham is a city made up of 99 distinct neighborhoods, and Otulana envisions a version of it where young people choose to stay and build their futures rather than leave, according to WVTM 13's reporting. He has said he hopes that within a decade, Birmingham will be known for more than its history. That outlook extends beyond Harmony Venture Labs' office walls — Otulana and his wife, Mary, gave $1 million to create the Shegun and Mary Otulana Endowed Scholarship at UAB, supporting international and underrepresented students, according to the university. Afrotech reports that Harmony Venture Labs' broader ambition over the next 10 to 20 years is to seed Birmingham and the wider South with dozens of thriving startups, a timeline that frames the Morris Avenue warehouse as just the opening chapter.
