Two Ohio-based startups are among those selected for an intensive 12-week program hosted in the Queen City by nationally ranked accelerator Gener8tor.
Gener8tor Cincinnati has selected four fast-growing companies to participate in its investment accelerator now underway. The cohort-based program offers one-on-one coaching and mentorship-driven programming.
Each participating company also receives a $100,000 equity investment.
Gener8tor’s cohorts are industry-agnostic and intentionally kept small, the organization said. Gener8tor Cincinnati received more than 400 applications from across the country for the program. Those chosen stood out because of their growth potential and investor-readiness.
All four startups will spend the majority of their time in Cincinnati throughout the 12 weeks. The accelerator calls Over-the-Rhine’s Union Hall home.
“We’ve been really happy to have all the teams back in person and have found a fun and collaborative synergy between the founders,” Rowan Hume, Cincinnati managing director, said in a release. “The support from all facets of the local ecosystem can’t be ignored, either, and Union Hall is a great home base for positive collisions.”
The companies selected include:
- Fresho, led by co-founder and CEO Scott Glasgow, based in Cleveland/Cincinnati. Fresho is a marketing tech suite that provides digital content for brands. Using an AI software-as-a-service tool, companies are able to consistently deploy content to a prospective customer based on their web cookies. Fresho is currently available as a freemium product and has seven pilot customers.
- Windw, led by founder and CEO Sharod Holmes, based in Cincinnati. Windw is a digital content aggregation platform that gives creatives the ability to control their brand beyond social media and focuses their audiences attention on the music, videos and products that lead to the highest engagement and revenue conversion. Windw is currently working with 30 beta testers and will be officially launching to select users at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
- Credder, led by founder Chase Palmieri, based in San Francisco. Credder is an ad placement optimization tool that helps brands, agencies and adtech firms maximize advertiser return on investment and brand safety by targeting trusted news sites. Credder’s data platform and AI-powered content scoring software enable digital advertisers to vet the credibility, quality and brand safety of news content and websites before bidding. Credder currently has five enterprise customers who have signed annual data licensing agreements.
- Puffworks, led by founder and CEO Greg Murphy, based in Portland, Ore. Puffworks makes organic nut butter puff snacks that make it easier for parents to follow pediatric feeding recommendations for early allergen introduction. The company has trailing 12-month revenue of $2.1 million and its products are sold at more than 200 retail locations, including Thrive Market and Amazon.
The accelerator wraps July 28, and the founders are scheduled to pitch their companies to investors, community partners and the public during a showcase event Oct. 24 at StartupCincy Week.
The Gener8tor Cincinnati team will follow the program with gBeta Cincy in the fall, Gener8tor’s equity-free and investment-free seven-week program that focuses exclusively on Cincinnati-area startups.
Gener8tor Cincinnati is part of Wisconsin-based Gener8tor, a global venture firm and accelerator network Gener8tor operates programs and conferences in more than 41 communities across 22 states and two countries.
To date, Gener8tor’s roughly 1,000 alumni have cumulatively raised more than $1.2 billion in follow-on financing.
