A Bucks County accelerator has selected its third cohort of startups, which will receive $25,000 each toward developing their businesses. In addition to the cohort, seven businesses will also receive up to $5,000 in grant funding, funneling up to $155,000 to local business development.
The Bucks Built Startup Fund run by Doylestown-based Startup Bucks was established to help innovative companies grow and scale in Bucks County. The organization, founded by Jon Mercer, has two primary initiatives – Founder's 30, a free weekly online forum to connect startup founders, and Bucks Built, meant to help startups grow their businesses.
The five startups receiving funding from the third iteration of the fund are:
- AccuTennis, a Perkasie firm that uses cameras and software to analyze data for racket sports player development. The company is billing its product as the “first technological development for club tennis in over two decades."
- BioVeras uses blockchain for the collection and verification of clinical trial data. The goal of the Doylestown company is to enable the quicker launch of life saving treatments.
- Saint Rocco’s Treats is a new brand of dog treats made from five ingredients. The Perkasie company is seeking to create a transparent production process they say is unique to the industry.
- Thrivv is a Doylestown-based science and technology backed dermatological company with a special focus on hair growth and post procedure skincare.
- Xenoil is an eco-conscious manufacturing company in Southampton that seeks to mitigate carbon emissions by reusing plastics for 3D printing.
For this cohort, the Bucks Built Startup Fund received over 100 applicants, which were winnowed down to 10 finalists. Those finalists then pitched their concepts to a panel of investors, entrepreneurs and community leaders who evaluated their plans and the potential economic impact they could have on the county. The selected five businesses will receive both funding and 12 months of advisory support.
Funding for the Startup Fund comes from the Bucks County Industrial Development Authority.
This year's group will look to build on the success of previous cohorts. Last year’s class went on to raise over $6 million in additional funding. Previous participating businesses have also received investment commitments from Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and two businesses were accepted into the highly competitive TechStars accelerator programs.
Alumni of the Bucks Built program include Penn Medicine spinout CareAlign, which created a HIPAA compliant collaborative task management platform that can be integrated into electronic health records; Pippy Sips, a storing, cooling, and monitoring system for breast milk; and Puppy Bootcamp, a virtual pet training program.
Through the fund, Mercer hopes to elevate the existing community of founders in Bucks County and attract more to the region. Bucks County has attracted an increasing number of startups over the past few years, benefiting the local economy.
In addition to the Bucks Built Startup Fund, seven applicants were awarded grants of up to $5,000 each from a new partnership with Penn Community Bank.
Those companies are AWSM Sauce, Dr. Brownies, Eternally, Forge, Measure Studio, Sage SEO, and Vital Start.
