StartingBlock, a Madison-based tech hub and co-working space, just named the eight startups that will take place in its inaugural Social Impact Initiative.
The eight companies will get dedicated workspace in StartingBlock and resources geared towards collaboration, growth and giving back. The program is being done in partnership with the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact and Greenbush Strategy Partners.
Startups receive a six-month free membership to StartingBlock, access to a specially-designed “pod” space, and programming in partnership with AmFam’s new Institute in the Spark building in downtown Madison.
Here are the eight startups, as described by StartingBlock:
Collaborative Science Environment (CoSE): CoSE’s crowd-sourcing platform puts real cutting-edge research experiments into high school and undergraduate classrooms. A graduate of gBETA’s first social impact accelerator, CoSE has secured NASA partnerships and was the winner of Education Startup Weekend 2018.
Fair Opportunity Project: A graduate of gBETA’s first social impact accelerator, the Fair Opportunity Project empowers students to access and afford college through its digital portal of curated, comprehensive resources. Since its founding in 2016, the Fair Opportunity Project has provided their resources to 64,000 guidance counselors, representing every high school in America, in addition to students in 204 countries.
Just Bakery, a Madison-area Urban Ministry project (MUM): An established local nonprofit, MUM launched Just Bakery in 2014, which provides a 12-week vocational training program for individuals with a conviction history. Last year, Just Bakery had over $200,000 in revenue and over 70% of participants obtained employment after completing the program. MUM is looking to expand and build on this success.
NovoMoto: Founded by UW-Madison students, NovoMoto provides clean electricity for off-grid communities in sub-Saharan Africa through rent-to-own solar-powered systems.
Farm to Facts: An early-stage project spinning out of UW-Madison, Farm to Facts’ platform captures the economic and non-economic value of local food systems, specifically the 10,000 and growing farmers markets.
Sidekick Education: A graduate of gBETA’s social impact cohort, SideKick Education uses artificial intelligence to build internships into high school classrooms that develop STEM skills and build relationships to access the six million unfilled STEM jobs.
Sustain Dane: An established local nonprofit organization, Sustain Dane seeks to use the SII resources to develop a sustainable business model for its fee-for-service MPower Business Champions Program.
WiFiMadison.com: WiFi Madison, in partnership with 5NINES, seeks to bring affordable, reliable internet to Madison’s underserved and low-income communities.
