The Atlanta Tech Village is welcoming seven early-stage startup to its 10th cohort of the It Takes A Village Pre-Accelerator.
The 16-week accelerator includes mentoring, lesson labs and pitch practices for women- and minority-owned startup founders. The program had more than 30 applicants.
The Atlanta Tech Village in Buckhead has long been a resource for Atlanta's startup ecosystem. Founded by serial entrepreneur David Cummings, the Village has incubated several successful software startups, including Salesloft, which had a $2 billion valuation in December, and Terminus, which raised $90 million last year but recently laid off employees.
The It Takes A Village program aims to help diversify the local tech industry and support early-stage businesses from founders of color and women. Its goal is to get participating companies a seed investment, a spot in an accelerator or an enterprise pilot customer.
Last year, book publishing startup Blooksy won $5,000 in the pre-accelerator's pitch competition. Business consultancy Arcum Partners and strategic planning platform WORKOPTI were awarded six-month scholarships from Truist Financial Corporation and Audi AG during the competition.
Here's this year's cohort:
Ask Me Your MD, CEO Dr. Patricia Marsh
This startup aims to provide consultancy to hospital clients with direct and on-demand access to physicians through its telemedicine platform. It was founded in 2021 by Dr. Patricia Marsh and Dr. Seerat Mission.
Games4Grades, CEO Dedren Sneed
This startup makes playing video games count for class credit for grade school students. The program is available in four Metro Atlanta school systems, according to its website, including Fulton County Schools and Atlanta Public Schools.
Gatsby, CEO Alice Thacker
This app pulls from the calendars of friends and family to know when people are free in order to plan trips and/or get together.
Manifest Technology, CEO Kristian Latiker
This startup aims to give small businesses a competitive edge through providing an e-commerce and retail marketplace.
NuNeighbor Inc., CEO J. Labron Anderson
This real estate app connects apartment renters to agents. Before NuNeighbor, Anderson was the founder of Atlanta after-school educational program Beyond Kings Community Development Corporation Inc. and a sales specialist for NCR Corp.
REco Grocery, CEO Crystal Osner
This startup likens itself to be the “supermarket of the future." It is a refill grocery store that aims to reduce use of plastic and food waste by providing refillable groceries without single-use plastic.
RevMatch, CEO Kai Tan
This app aims to help users manage and build their dream car. Users can create journals of their builds with tools such as spreadsheets of how much they’ve invested and prices from manufacturers.
