St. Louis-based Capital Innovators has selected 6 high-growth startup companies to take part in its Fall 2017 Accelerator cohort.
“We broke the record for the number of applications we received for two programs consecutively,” said Brian Dixon, COO of Capital Innovators. “Approximately 470 companies applied from 50 plus countries and 35 states.”
To date, the 83 companies that have completed a Capital Innovators program have collectively raised over $295MM in follow-on funding. Notable alumni from the accelerator include Gainsight, Label Insight, and Pixel Press, among others.
“This new cohort of companies comes from around the continent, our region, and our very own St. Louis community,” said Dixon “These teams are building great companies in AI, e-commerce, music, real estate, enterprise data, and peer-to-peer technologies.”
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The 2017 class represents a diverse range of industries and regions with companies from Canada and across the U.S.
Anchor (St. Louis, MO)
Founder: Zach Hatraf
Anchor is a “Peer-to-Pier” ecosystem for on-demand water transportation and boat charter services. Think Airbnb/Uber for boats. Customers can also shop a broad range of in-demand/on-demand services like Boat Charters (by the hour), Sober Captains (captains for hire), and Experiences (fishing, Scuba, etc) to create a full-lifecycle experience.
Clever Real Estate (St. Louis, MO)
Founders: Ben Mizes, Tim Gordon
Clever is an online platform that allows anyone to sell their home with a full-service agent for a flat fee of $3,000. When a user buys with Clever, they receive a commission rebate to help cover closing costs. Clever is available nationwide.
Obe Dog (San Francisco, CA)
Founder: Hilary Jensen Wade
Obe’s mission is to help pet parents spend more time together with their pets. Their flagship product is ProBowl which combines a dishwasher-safe bowl and a smart base that connects to Wi-Fi and your phone. ProBowl and its software takes care of the day-to-day details for pet parents like automatically reordering pet food and having it delivered at just the right time, in addition to tracking eating and drinking habits with smart alerts about important changes.
PennHaven (Boston, MA)
Founders: John Holsapple, Greg Shapiro, Zachary Cooper-Vastola
Over the next 15 years, four of the six million small businesses with employees are expected to sell, transfer, or close. Private equity funds, brokers and private buyers lack the ability to efficiently transact small businesses. Penn Haven aims to bridge this divide between buyers and sellers through the use of their proprietary software. In high volume, their software identifies, scores, contacts, and tracks small business acquisition targets.
Smart Screen (New York, NY)
Founders: Subrat Nayak, Philip Charles-Pierre
Using AI, Smart Screen automates the process of onboarding and background checking by removing manual interventions, currently a commonplace in the background checking process. Using machine learning, they have some of the largest credential and verification databases. As a result, their typical customer saves 50% while increasing the efficiency by 100%.
Tunedly (Prince Edward Island, CA)
Founders: Chris Erhardt, Mylene Bescanson
Tunedly is an innovative marketplace that connects anyone with the world’s best session musicians to create professional-sounding music and makes it easier to get heard. Tunedly is decentralizing the music industry by removing the physical and financial barriers that often prevent creative-minded individuals from connecting with the right musicians. In addition, they are putting the power of choice in the hands of music creators who want to maintain some level of creative control and identity with the music they create.
For more information on Capital Innovators, visit www.capitalinnovators.com.
