Richmond's nationally recognized Lighthouse Labs accelerator has announced the latest cohort of eight companies participating in its fall 2018 program.
Now in its sixth year, the nonprofit, seed-stage accelerator connects founders with mentors, industry experts, investors, support services and office space – along with $20,000 for no equity.
“We are excited to expand our efforts this fall with eight amazing new companies coming to Richmond from multiple states, including an emphasis on education technologies,” Executive Director Todd Nuckols said in a statement.
Thirty representatives from VCU, Activation Capital, Capital One, Altria, Sandbox, Intellispark, NRV, SJF Ventures, several angel investors and Lighthouse Labs alumni helped select startups for the three-month program.
The Abstract Athlete partners with professional athletes who are also artists to develop consumer products inspired by the athlete’s original artwork.
Brandefy analyzes product ingredients to empower consumers to save money and make informed choices between store and name brand items.
Codemoji offers an autonomous adaptive learning model to teach 1st-8th graders the fundamentals of coding.
EdConnective helps schools and districts increase the amount and quality of 1:1 feedback, delivering highly effective instructional coaching to teachers.
EnrichHER is a debt-based investment platform that uses machine learning to unite female-led founders and interested funders.
Quinncia is an AI-based tool that analyzes resumes, generates tailored virtual interviews, and evaluates the soft skills of applicants.
Radify Labs runs project-focused online education programs to teach technical skills, and then pairs students with real-world internships and projects.
Tablee provides a modern solution for the hospitality industry that digitally captures and communicates the needs and requests of guests.
To date, Lighthouse Labs has worked with 33 startups that it says have created more than 120 jobs, raised more than $25 million in capital, and represent more than $130 million in total portfolio value.
Lighthouse Labs is also growing along with its list of accelerated startups, as it carves out part of the program to support education companies.
“Similar to the tremendous community support received in the past, we’re finding the industry-specific focus on education is exciting to new corporate partners, and we welcome others who want to join us in this endeavor as well,” Managing Director Dan Myers said in a statement.
The program begins Aug. 20 at 1717 Innovation Center, and culminates with an investor roadshow and demo day the week of Nov. 12.
