Five of the 12 startups in the inaugural class of Techstars Columbus Powered by the Ohio State University were founded in Central Ohio, according to Columbus Inno research. That includes one we picked as a Startup to Watch.
Other founders all converging in Columbus for the three-month accelerator hail from San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Florida, New Jersey, Berlin, Israel and Armenia, according to the list Techstars released Monday.
"We believe these companies are building the critical infrastructure for healthier, more fulfilling lives for each of us now and for generations to come,” Tim Grace, managing director of Techstars Columbus, said in a release.
The accelerator is a core component of Ohio State's Center for Software Innovation, which launched with the fall semester. The center was established with a school-record $110 million donation from the family foundation of Ratmir Timashev, an OSU graduate and serial entrepreneur who founded Veeam Software Corp., a Columbus data backup and recovery firm and before that Dublin-based Aelita software.
Housed in the Carmenton innovation district, the 13-week program provides funding and immerses founders with entrepreneurs in residence and other mentors to build skills in sales, fundraising, hiring and operations. It culminates in the May 29 Demo Day, when founders pitch their startups to investors.
"We set out to identify the best software companies in the world and in our own backyard," Techstars said in its introductory post, which did not extensively detail the startups beyond one-line descriptions and links.
Based on Columbus Inno research on the startups' websites and LinkedIn profiles, here are the five from Central Ohio:
Currents Systems Inc. replaces spreadsheets and a few heavily manual apps for keeping track of and managing ownership and maintenance of possessions – cars, appliances, phones.
CEO Craig Smith and CTO Cole Smith, brothers from the Chicago area, worked on it as a side project for years, but went full-time with the startup in November and moved it to Columbus. Cole Smith is an OSU data scientist graduate and Craig Smith left a job at EY in San Francisco.
Columbus Inno named it a Startup to Watch for 2024.
Blended Edge is a platform using AI to help software developers speed integrations with data and apps. CEO Ryan Lunka and CTO Robb Winkle founded it in 2020 in Westerville.
Blomso, the DBA of AgriBloom LLC, uses sensor to help farmers reduce fertilizer waste so that sustainable farming becomes practical to implement and profitable. CEO Kalib Riddle and CTO Roan Kovach, both currently OSU undergraduates, founded the company last summer. The startup is based in Baltimore in Fairfield County.
PlugOp Technologies is software to more efficiently manage the energy load for electric vehicle charging stations so they become more affordable to install at multifamily housing or workplaces. CEO Cory Miller and COO Tyler Simons started it in 2022 in Columbus and it has an office at Rev1 Ventures, the startup development and investing organization.
Superfan is an app for friends to share playlists and new music discoveries. It was founded in late 2022 by 2019 OSU graduate Will Matz, who says on the website he built the first version "over a long weekend."
And here are the global startups in Columbus for the program. Among the center's goals is that they end up keeping a Central Ohio presence:
Aspect Health is an app with diet and lifestyle coaching for women with hormonal imbalances, focusing on polycystic ovary syndrome, paired with a continuous glucose monitor. Founded in late 2021 by CEO Gleb Babiy, a medical researcher, in New York City.
Besample is an online recruitment platform for social scientists to find study participants from a broad spectrum of the population in 42 countries, instead of the current narrow pool of highly educated participants from well-off industrialized nations. Founded one year ago by CEO Elena Brandt in Florida and Tamila Feldman in New Jersey, with a global team of contract developers.
Cariqa is an app for EV owners to plan routes and find charging stations, with integrated payment plans that simplify pricing and include perks. It was founded last April in Berlin, Germany, by CEO Issam Tidjani, Tamara Ciullo and Stefano Bonetta.
Pedal Data is an insole sensor and AI software to track gait abnormalities in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, providing data for the treatment team to develop more personalized therapy to slow progression. It launched in fall and lists Palo Alto, Calif., as its address. The website links to research by a large group of biomedical researchers but does not indicate which ones are with the business.
Rubato is AI-powered music therapy and biometric sensing for patients with dementia and their care team, reimbursable by Medicare in some cases. It was founded in 2020 in the Los Angeles area by CEO Amit Sternberg and CTO Noam Guy.
Seek is an at-home lab test to measure the effects of alcohol on women's health, with coaching to reduce drinking. The website is password protected, but the startup has Instagram and TikTok accounts talking about the impact of alcohol on women's health. Brooklyn-based founder and CEO Katie Garry's LinkedIn profile lists a stealth startup founded in October.
Sentius is the DBA of Generative Assistants Inc., which creates autonomous agents to help businesses harness generative AI. The startup's mailing address is in Idaho, the LinkedIn profile is in California. Co-founders are CEO Daniel Kornev in Silicon Valley, CTO Diliara Zharikova in Armenia and Chief Science Officer Mike Burtsev in London.
The Columbus program launches just a few weeks after Techstars announced it would close programs in Seattle and its founding city of Boulder, Colorado, when their current cohorts graduate in June, the Denver Business Journal reported. The organization also is moving its headquarters to New York from Boulder.
“It’s been incredible to see both the expansive Techstars community and the Columbus entrepreneurial ecosystem, as always, show their support," Center for Software Innovation Executive Director Shereen Agrawal said in the release. "Through this program, we are excited to continue our dedication to fostering high-impact innovation.”
