The University of Akron Research Foundation's Stride Hard Tech Accelerator has been named one of two Ohio accelerators to win the U.S. Small Business Administration's Growth Accelerator Fund Competition.
The UARF accelerator works to expand Northeast Ohio's economy through entrepreneurship education, technology commercialization, application of the university's research and creation of entrepreneurial ventures, the SBA said in a press release.
The second winning Ohio accelerator, the Opportunity Accelerator at Ohio State University's Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, supports development designed to accelerate the spin off university innovations into the marketplace, the SBA said.
Each Ohio accelerator will receive a $50,000 prize.
"Starting in 2019, the University of Akron Research Foundation began a series of iterative pilot programs to test and refine the Stride accelerator, which provides cohort-based commercialization training to deep-tech entrepreneurs," said Nick Glavan, program manager for the foundation, in the accelerator's award application video.
One-third of Stride accelerator's participants are women-owned startup companies with Small Business Innovation Research awards, Glavan said.
"Stride has made me more confident in my business skills, specifically in marketing and branding," said Chelsea Monty-Bromer, CEO of RooSense LLC, the consumer diagnostic company based in Copley Township, Ohio, in the accelerator's video.
The RooSense Optimal Sweat Performance System analyzes your sweat during exercise so you can plan your hydration to enhance performance and recovery, according to the company's website.
Involvement with Stride "also led to connections to help us improve our commercialization and manufacturing plans," Monty-Bromer said. These connections led to a $250,000 SBIR Phase I award to further develop Roo-Sense's "wearable fabric sensor for hydration monitoring," according to the National Science Foundation.
"This (Growth Accelerator Fund Competition) award enables a critical collaboration that will help women entrepreneurs build momentum on their SBIR submissions, craft more successful proposals and source supplemental funding to strengthen their companies," said Elyse Ball, executive director of the university's research foundation and co-founder of the accelerator, in its video.
