Gener8tor, a nationally-ranked tech accelerator that established an arm in Minnesota last year, released the names of the startups participating in its first accelerator class Friday.
The five startups in the accelerator are from a wide range of industries, including apparel and medical devices. Three are from Minnesota. Gener8tor's Minnesota director Eric Martell previously stated that each of the companies is expected to receive around $90,000 in funding, in addition to mentorship and potential connections to followup capital.
Earlier this summer, the accelerator was looking to raise $1.5 million, and had received backing from 13 investors, according to a Form D filing. Martell said that this amount of funding would be sufficient to cover two gener8tor classes (for both this summer and next).
The accelerator began in early July. In order to participate in gener8tor, founders were asked to move to the Twin Cities for three months. The startups will present their ideas at a demo day during Twin Cities Startup Week in October.
Martell said that gener8tor is still working to finalize funding with the fifth startup, and asked that its name not be disclosed.
Here are the startups in gener8tor's first Minnesota accelerator:
KALEIDOSCOPE
- Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
- Who they are: Kaleidoscope’s scholarship cloud marketplace connects scholarship funders (e.g. corporations, foundations) to students. Kaleidoscope designs, implements, administers and disburses scholarships on behalf of funder organizations.
KIRAKIRA3D
- Hometown: San Francisco, CA
- Who they are: KiraKira3D teaches children (especially girls) how to make 3D models.
SMARTIMPLANTSYSTEMS
- Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
- Who they are: SmartImplantSystems designs and manufactures the first spinal fusion device featuring active radio frequency therapy for managing back pain. These devices include onboard sensors, which allow physicians to optimize the device’s delivery of RF therapy.
SWANNIES
- Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
- Who they are: Swannies creates lifestyle golf apparel for millennials.
---------------------- UPDATE 10/3: gener8tor announced the name of the fifth startup participating in its first Minnesota accelerator. Routeique is a logistics company from Vancouver. The startup offers a cloud-based delivery and logistics platform that handles services like CRM, order management and invoicing.
