Techstars Chicago’s second virtual demo day kicked off Thursday afternoon with a custom hip-hop song by William and Tyni Birdsong, with lyrics like “our cohort so real,” and “I’m-a do it like Neal,” a nod to the program’s Managing Director, Neal Sáles-Griffin.
Techstars Chicago, the startup accelerator that helped launch notable local tech companies like Jiobit and SpotHero, had the nine companies in its latest cohort pitch their businesses in a live-streamed event on YouTube. The cohort began in November with 10 companies, but Minneapolis-based MoneyVerbs dropped out of the program early on, according to Sáles-Griffin.
Techstars was originally founded in Colorado in 2006 and launched a Chicago operation in 2013. There are now nearly 50 programs throughout the world.
Because of the program’s completely virtual nature this year amid the pandemic, Techstars Chicago accepted startups from outside of the Windy City, though most of the founders hail from the Midwest. Companies earned acceptance into this latest cohort by providing a convincing vision of how the world will become a better place when their business succeeds.
This latest class includes startups from across industries, including transportation; friendship and love; beauty; health care and fitness; home improvement; finance; artificial intelligence; and diversity, equity and inclusion.
By being accepted into Techstars, each startup receives a $120,000 investment from the program, with $100,000 provided in a convertible note and the remaining $20,000 in cash.
“These people are special,” Sáles-Griffin said during the event, which attracted about 300 viewers. “When you get to know these people, I think you’ll see how special they are.”
Here are the nine startups that pitched at the Techstars Chicago demo day:
Bird: The startup, founded by Ann Conway and Jon Mollenhauer, aims to provide affordable and personalized coaching to athletes by connecting coaches and athletes to each other. Coaches can set up training programs for athletes and track their progress on Bird's online platform.
CAPE Inclusion: Specializing in diversity, equity and inclusion, Denver-based CAPE offers a comprehensive platform to support achieving these types of initiatives, simplifying the process, and increasing the ability to maximize DEI impact. The startup was founded by Justus Thompson, Elizabeth Thompson and Jason Thompson.
Cinta Color: Cinta, based in San Francisco, has created a service for people to order hair coloring kits to their home. The startup, founded by Cinta Gibbons, Ardak Yeraliyeva and Bolatbek Yeraliyeva, makes a dye solution tailored to each customer and provides detailed instructions so they can dye their hair themselves.
DocuMentor: The Indianapolis-based startup has built an easy-to-use and affordable electronic visit verification solution for in-home care providers that simplifies compliance and streamlines operations. It was founded by William and Tyni Birdsong (the creators of the song played during the demo day).
Eemerg Roadside Assistance Marketplace: Eemerg, based in St. Louis and founded by Whitney Gregory, is an open marketplace app assisting in connecting customers directly to roadside service providers during a roadside emergency, and advertises that its prices are lower than competitors.
Hiki: The word Hiki, which means “able” in Hawaiian, is a friendship and dating social platform for the neuro-divergent community. Every part of Hiki, which is based in New York, has been built in collaboration with adults, who have conditions like Autism, to ensure the app is sensory aware and truly representative of neurodivergent needs. The company was founded by Jamil Karriem.
Improovy: Improovy’s platform allows users to easily hire contractors for home renovations projects. The Chicago startup says it can provide job quotes in 10 minutes with projects starting in as little as 24 hours. Improovy, founded by Andre Kazimierski, covers the entire renovation cycle from idea to completion. During the demo day, Matt McCall, a partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, said he is personally investing the company’s upcoming funding round.
Signal Cortex: The startup, based in Akron, Ohio, has built an intelligent enterprise voice assistant for workers across industries that allows them to receive notifications, update tasks and manage workflows without touching a single device. The startup was founded by Matt Crowley and Bill Wichert.
Script Health: The startup, based in Chicago and founded by James Lott, makes a SaaS platform that allows pharmacies to prescribe tests and treatments.
