Seven startups—three with a sports emphasis—were selected for NMotion, the Lincoln startup accelerator beginning June 2.

This year’s cohort includes local startups Adolade, Digi Widgets, MusicSpoke and Pixobot, along with out-of-state startups Turnstile Cards, Commissioner.io and Athletepreneur, which will be moving to Lincoln to participate.

Applications were up 80 percent from last year and included applicants from all over the world, said Brian Ardinger, NMotion’s managing director.

“This group is strong and has diverse founders,” Ardinger said. “It was tough making the final cut.”

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To capitalize on Lincoln’s growing list of sports-related startups and mentors—Hudl, opendorse, Lockr, EliteForm, Hail Varsity, Bulu Box, Powderhook and others—NMotion actively targeted sports-focused startups to bring into the program.

“We think density is important in a growing startup community since it allows for greater collaboration and connections,” Ardinger said. “At NMotion we wanted to actively look for ways to capitalize on our community’s strengths and build on them.”

Zach Sanderson, co-founder of Turnstile Cards, said they’re excited to move from the Cedar Rapids area to Lincoln.

“We’re excited to come from one supportive Silicon Prairie community to another, especially one with a sports startup legacy,” he said.

In addition to sports startups, NMotion’s startups includes agriculture, music and digital marketing focuses.

In its announcement for the second class, NMotion shared a bit about each startup: 

	Adolade (Lincoln) – Location-based mobile rewards platform Ryan Cooper, founder of Golf Status, is creating a location-based rewards company that helps app and device makers monetize their users’ moments of achievement, loyalty and influence.
	Athletepreneur (Chicago) – Online network & marketplace for athletes Co-founder Mike Fingado is coming from Seattle and his co-founder Brian Dzingal, who is a former Olympian from Zimbabwe, will be coming from Chicago. They are building a professional network and lifestyle brand for collegiate and professional athletes.
	Commisioner.io (Toronto, Canada) – Sports league management platform Kunwar Gill and Richard Bansal come from Toronto, Canada, to work on a sports league management platform for recreational leagues and their players.
	Digi Widgets (Lincoln) – Plug-in graphic editing engine for websites Fresh off their win at the JumpStart Challenge, Lincoln entrepreneurs Stacy Carson (Gotta Pixel) and Carl Steffan (Stone Fin Development) formed Digi Widgets as a plug-in graphic editing engine for websites that empowers users to create, manipulate and sell digital media.
	MusicSpoke (Lincoln) – Music publishing platform & marketplace for composers MusicSpoke, founded by Jennifer Rosenblatt and Kurt Knecht, is a cloud-based platform where composers, conductors and performers can connect and share new sheet music and performances.
	PixoBot – Software platform for robotics in agriculture Vishal Singh heads up Pixobot, a software platform utilizing drones and data to improve agricultural efficiency.
	Turnstile Cards (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) – Mobile fan loyalty platform Zach Sanderson and Jason Kristufek represent Turnstile Cards. Turnstile Cards won a recent Startup Weekend competition and are coming to NMotion from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Turnstile Cards is recreating the nostalgia of the baseball card in a mobile marketing platform for sports teams to connect with fans outside the stadium.

NMotion startups receive $15,000 in seed capital for 6 percent equity, co-working space and access to a pool of resources, including more than 100 mentors, training and developer and designer talent.

Each startup will use the 100 days of the program to work with teams and mentors to test and validate the market, build and prototype their solutions, and prepare for a demo day showcase on Sept. 9 at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln.

Seed funding was provided by Invest Nebraska Corporation along with members of the Nebraska Angels organization and individual accredited investors. Program sponsors include the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, Union Bank and Trust, NUtech Ventures, Nebraska Innovation Campus, and the University of Nebraska, along with many other companies and organizations.