Ohio’s Third Frontier Launches Boot Camp for Techies

Written by Innovate New Albany@InnovateNA13 years ago

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Ten teams of technology entrepreneurs from around the world have been selected to participate in Ohio’s New Entrepreneurs (ONE) Fund pilot program, an 11-week boot camp designed to turn their ideas into viable start-up companies and pitch them to dozens of venture capitalists and angel investors.

Funded through the Ohio Third Frontier and administered by The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business Center for Entrepreneurship, the program provides $20,000 for business and living expenses as teams work with industry experts and seasoned entrepreneurs to develop their concepts and build their business models.

“This will be a tremendous learning experience for the participants and is an important step to retaining and attracting top talent for the state of Ohio,” says James A. Leftwich, director of the Ohio Department of Development and Chairman of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission.

A New Venture Showcase will conclude the boot camp which will allow the young entrepreneurs to pitch their new products to investors. In fact, NCT Ventures, a local venture capital firm, has already committed $200,000 in funding to support the most promising ideas.

The teams include:

Acceptd – Acceptd is a web-based tool that simplifies the video application process for university programs. Uploading and managing application videos, audition tapes and highlight films using Acceptd will streamline the process and save time and money for applicants and program directors.

adEvo – adEvo is a loyalty and analytics platform for websites that rewards users for their online contributions. The platform will give online publishers the ability to reward users with points for visiting a website, commenting, sharing articles and growing a social network.

Biena Tech – Biena Tech will produce carbon neutral fuel cells that generate clean energy while operating at room temperature and using CO2 as a conducting source. The technology has a wide variety of market applications in the residential, portable, industrial, transportation and aerospace sectors.

Edifuneral – Edifuneral will connect families in need with funeral homes in their area that meet their specific requirements. More than a listing service, Edifuneral provides specific information to families that helps streamline their decision-making process.

Flare Code – Flare Code allows individuals and organizations to aggregate all of their digital content into a collection of mobile-optimized widgets that can be accessed quickly and directly by scanning a code. Flare Code allows the community to interact with the code by posting photos and comments to a special section. Imagine a code in a newspaper you can scan every day to discuss stories and view news clips from a local television station, or a band poster with music videos and fan photos. Flare Code turns objects into digital communities by connecting them with digital context.

Kout – Kout is an e-commerce platform aimed at micro merchants, sellers who do not need a front-end store. Merchants receive a unique checkout URL for each product, which links to a simple checkout page designed to reduce checkout abandonment and provide a seamless experience for the customer. Merchants also will be able to accept credit cards directly through Kout’s checkout without the need of a merchant account and payment gateway, providing less hassle, less fees, and a quicker setup.

LyoGo LLC – LyoGo LLC was formed to develop and commercialize a novel drug delivery system for lyophilized (freeze dried) drugs. LyoGo provides a safer, easier, more convenient and cost effective method of administering complex biologic drugs.

RenterCenter – RenterCenter is a new online service to revolutionize the rental housing market by aggregating the demand (i.e. potential tenants) and making it easy and affordable for landlords to locate, evaluate and engage potential tenants.

Rewardster – Rewardster is an automatic rewards platform that links directly to your credit card and provides consumers with targeted loyalty rewards based on spending habits across Rewardster’s merchant network.

SampleShop – SampleShop provides free samples for a very low monthly fee to customers who would like to try new products. SampleShop charges the company for launching and introducing their products and, in exchange, helps them to get feedback and surveys from customers.

For more information, visit http://www.10xelerator.com/.

Innovate New Albany, the city’s incubator for technology startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses, features 16,000 square feet of space within the New Albany Business Park’s Signature Office Building, 8000 Walton Parkway.