Straight Shot is based in a 3,000-square-foot space in the Scott Technology Center in the Aksarben district.

The Omaha startup community just grew by four startups, or seven if you’re counting three local companies you’ve likely never heard of before today. The new names and faces behind them—14 founders in all—make up the inaugural class of Straight Shot, Dundee Venture Capital‘s new startup accelerator.

“We think we have a diverse group (and) we still have our niche—we focus on ecommerce or SaaS,” Faith Larson, the accelerator’s managing director, told Silicon Prairie News on Monday.

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Among the startups chosen from the batch of 367 applicants is a music prediction tool for DJs, an advertising platform that lets users make purchases through ads and a hardware product that aims to give hunters better technology to monitor game.

“We selected (the startups) because of the uniqueness of the idea or their ability to solve a problem and the quality of the founders,” Larson said.

When we first covered Straight Shot in April, Dundee founder Mark Hasebroock said his aim was to attract startups from outside of Omaha.

“At the end of the day you hope what you have is a series of companies that are going to be successful and prepared for success, for funding, for growth, what have you,” Hasebroock said in April.

Dundee put up the money to fund the companies—each gets $20,000 in exchange for 6 percent equity—and stands to benefit the most from the accelerator. Sponsors have chipped in money, resources and in-kind services as well.

More than 110 mentors, some from the startup community but a majority from the established business community, also are involved in the three-month program.

The program kicks off July 8 and concludes in October with a demo day. Larson leads the day-to-day operations of Straight Shot, and since April, she’s added six paid interns to her team.

For more on Straight Shot, see our post: “Hayneedle co-founder to launch ecommerce, SaaS startup accelerator.”

Straight Shot inaugural class (July 8-Oct. 3)

Here’s a look at the seven startups that will fill Straight Shot’s space in Aksarben Village. (Descriptions provided by Straight Shot or taken from company website.)

	CardioSys (Omaha) “CardioSys is still developing the full SaaS model,” Larson said. CardioSys combines advanced mobile and wireless technologies along with predictive analytics in order to provide a real-time monitoring platform for patients with acute or chronic illnesses.
	Crateful (Omaha) “Crateful still has further product development but they actually have active DJs who are utilizing the product they’ve developed,” Larson said. Crateful uses advanced audio and data analytics techniques to make tools that help music enthusiasts with their No. 1 problem: finding the best music for the moment.
	BuyNow (Omaha) “BuyNow is out pitching, they have a trademarked product and are in the middle of their sales campaign,” Larson said. BuyNow is a mobile-commerce app that enables consumers to instantly purchase advertised products/services off of any multimedia ad by sending an SMS text message.
	Huntforce (Louisville, Ken.) “Huntforce is currently in the prototype phase for a hardware component that it’s developing,” Larson said. With HuntForce, hunters can view, organize, manage and share photos of their property and game from their mobile devices.
	Cosmic Cart (Durham, N.C.) “Cosmic cart has signed up retailers, actually active publishers and has some commerce that’s being transacted,” Larson said. Cosmic Cart adds convenience and security to online shopping by allowing users to add products into one shopping cart from anywhere online.
	Cympel (pronounced “simple”) (Minneapolis, Minn.) “Cympel has had pilot companies and is in final product development stages,” Larson said. Cympel delivers interactive advertisements and the ability for a customer to immediately purchase the product without redirection.
	Business Exchange (San Francisco, Calif.) Through the Business Exchange platform, businesses can provide feedback, insight, recommendations, reviews and ratings to one another based on real-world transactions.