Cincinnati-based Ocean Accelerator held its fourth demo day on April 24 at Crossroads in Florence, Ky., just south of Cincinnati. Eight startups took the stage, along with keynote speaker, Dane Sanders, a podcaster, author and speaker; Ocean Program Director Lauren Tiffan and its co-founder Tim Metzner.
It celebrated the conclusion of the accelerator’s five-month program, during which time each participating startup received $50,000 in seed money, mentorship, co-working space and legal services provided by Frost Brown Todd.
Fletch was the first to present. Founder Marquett Burton spoke about how his app can help college students who are having attendance issues right the course and go on to graduate. Fletch is an app that “effortlessly generates real-time attendance records and notifies colleges of absentee patterns the moment they develop," its website states.
SAWA came next. Founder and CEO Francis Tao built SAWA to help streamline design and help keep companies marketing collateral on brand. SAWA “designs commonly needed communication materials quickly and cost-effectively.”
MicQroTech followed, an enterprise “where internet of things and artificial intelligence meet pipelines.” Its founder and CEO, Meade Lewis, discussed how his software and equipment can help predict when an oil pipeline is likely to rupture or break, an insight that could help save millions and have a positive impact on the environment.
The rest of the participating startups are as follows, with descriptions provided from their respective websites.
- BidOps is "a cloud-based software platform for procurement professionals to run live auctions for performance-based vendor contracts, cutting the strategic sourcing cycle from months to hours.”
- Brightlamp “creates medical software for a mobile phone by utilizing advanced computer vision technologies and machine learning to take in relevant biological information.”
- Kai Coach is “building a better coaching and leadership platform that exists totally in your digital world, starting with personal trainers.”
- Natalus “uses integrated LiDAR solutions to provide businesses with real-time geospatial insights by mapping significant spaces & places.”
- R3 Printing is an additive manufacturing hardware startup developing hardware that unlocks the true potential of 3D printers.”
One of the unique aspects of the Ocean accelerator is that the program focuses on startups' and founders' entrepreneurial and faith paths concurrently.
“Founders travel a lonely journey that often results in the entrepreneur sacrificing everything — relationships, health and faith,” said Scott Weiss, CEO of Ocean Accelerator. “Ocean Accelerator offers founders a different option.”
Their three previous classes, with 26 total companies, have raised $7.2 million in capital and created more than 63 jobs. This year, nearly 200 startups applied to participate. Two-thirds of the founders of the current cohort were either women or people of color.
