MassChallenge, the zero-equity accelerator founded in Boston 11 years ago, has announced the early-stage startups in this year’s MassChallenge Rhode Island program. Of those startups, 11 are based here in Rhode Island—just over one-third of the 30 total startups in the cohort.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, MassChallenge has pivoted to an all-virtual model. The accelerator is not new to this. In March, MassChallenge’s HealthTech and FinTech programs went virtual mid-program, taking their meetings and events to Zoom.
This year's cohort represents a diverse array of industries: 37 percent of the startups are in high tech; 30 percent are in health care and life sciences; 13 percent are in general, retail and consumer goods; 10 percent are in energy and clean tech; and 10 percent are social impact startups.
MassChallenge is working to ensure its startups are diverse in other ways, too. This year, 56 percent of the Rhode Island cohort has at least one female founder. As part of its response to racism in the startup community, MassChallenge’s 2020 programs will also include anti-bias and anti-racist trainings for their mentors, startups and teams, and MassChallenge will create a formal cross-cohort networks of founders from diverse backgrounds.
"MassChallenge has a longstanding mandate of empowering entrepreneurs," MassChallenge Rhode Island managing director Hope Hopkins said in a statement. "This year, that mandate is critical: We look forward to working with you closely and ensuring that you are successful agents of progress."
Read about the Rhode Island-based startups in each category below. Descriptions, where provided, come from MassChallenge.
High Tech
Nautilus Defense LLC: Building advanced textile and composite-integrated systems for monitoring high-value assets and their environments.
Retail MarketPoint: Retail MarketPoint is a real estate technology company specializing in retail site location analytics.
Health Care / Life Sciences
ResusciTech: ResusciTech aims to give everyone the confidence and capability to perform CPR anywhere and take action during medical emergencies.
VISIT: VISIT is a social/cognitive subscription activity kit that guides relationship-building between a caregiver and a loved one with dementia.
My MOC, Inc.: Making continuous education simple for healthcare clinicians.
Energy / Cleantech
GC USA: Combining graphene and aerogel to make the strongest, lightest, most resilient products ever – enhancing the quality of life.
General
Artist Republik: Artist Republik is a centralized network for independent artists to network, manage, market, book, and grow!
Traveroo Inc.: Letting tour-guides create self-guided audio tours which travelers can then buy and experience.
LapSnap: The LapSnap is the only collapsible shopping basket specifically designed with and for wheelchair users.
Social Impact
Inventing Heron: A web-based career resource that takes a radically personal and empathetic approach to career discovery.
