When it launched as a pandemic-response company last year, Rhody’s own Ocean State Shields worked to provide disinfected personal protective equipment to businesses and schools.
However, over the last year, the company has pivoted to being a more general "public health solutions" company. That transition landed OSS into a global business accelerator hosted by Newchip.
Of the over 1,400 companies that applied, Newchip accepted less than 10% into its program.
The accelerator is meant to run like an executive MBA program, with sessions running after work hours each week and with all of the assignments designed to be done at your own pace.
Over the course of six months, Newchip portfolio companies are positioned to receive an average investment of $1 million to 10 million, according to accelerator officials.
“A lot of people thought if the pandemic was over, then OSS was over. That’s not necessarily true. We are going to be launching products that ultimately play a much more key role in creating a healthful environment long-term,” CEO and co-founder Allyson Cote said.
This move follows two rounds of funding for a total of $128,000 from one of Rhode Island Commerce’s largest small-business grant programs. After a successful run of producing products designed to protect against viruses, “we want to get OSS to a position where we can take the work that we're doing nationally,” Cote said.
Upon completing the accelerator and obtaining funding, Cote wants OSS to bring a new technology into Rhode Island that would require the company to set up a manufacturing facility.
Alongside that, she aims to bring on more employees to the company’s nine-person team.
To Cote, what differentiates OSS and its protective products is that the company doesn’t just provide one product or one service. It takes on a consultative approach and offers different equipment based on people's needs and budgets.
As a founder, Cote values Rhode Island's ever-growing ecosystem.
“Rhode Island has such a strong entrepreneurial community. You've got a lot of really cool people here working on some amazing stuff. We plan to never leave,” Cote said.
An earlier version of this article misstated the number of investments from Rhode Island Commerce and the duration of the Newchip program.
