B-Start, a pre-accelerator program for early-stage startups in Bloomington, has announced its 2017 cohort. Eleven startups were selected to participate in the 22-week program, during which they will attend workshops in lean business concepts, customer acquisition, fundraising, marketing and more.
The 11 B-Start participants are:
- Adventure Field Guides: Marketplace of trip guides made by a community of outdoor influencers.
- Be-u-tiful: Online marketplace that helps review and sell hair-care products.
- Bot Maven: Software that creates bots for event promotions.
- Codemoji: Coding platform for kids using emojis.
- Community Carbon Exchange: Platform that facilities the financial exchange of personal carbon offsets between producers and consumers.
- Elephants on Mars: Virtual reality arcade to explore immersive VR and develop new technology.
- Eqlsr: Blockchain platform to share, curate, collaborate and listen to music.
- Nomad Chest: Platform for renting clothing to travelers.
- Rent My Window: Auction platform for brick-and-mortar businesses and advertisers.
- Sharon: Debt-monitoring platform.
- Thumb: Long-distance ride-sharing platform for college students.
“We are now in the third year of our B-Start program and are really excited to have non-students participating this year alongside students,” said Anne McCombe, project manager at the Bloomington Economic Development Corp. “Creating new businesses and plugging them into the startup ecosystem in Bloomington is the goal of the B-Start program, and this new cohort looks like one of our strongest yet.”
The program will culminate with a Demo Day in March 2018, when the startups will deliver a five-minute pitch with the chance to win cash prizes based on the decision of a panel of judges.
The Indiana University Office of the Vice President for Engagement is one of the founding sponsors of B-Start.
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