Katherine Olives
As you may know, one of our goals at the Zahn Innovation Center is to prove product market fit and de-risk startups for potential investors, but also for the startups themselves. Zahn Center startups are all taught how to bootstrap their companies early on, so that they can focus 100% on their companies and solve real world problems.
Examples of our method include one of our startups from last year, Veripad, who is a finalist in MassChallenge. Another one of the companies that has worked at the Zahn Center is StrongArm Technologies. They were recently featured in Forbes magazine. A third, Homer Logistics, recently raised $6.03 million, and was featured not only in WSJ, but CNBC and AlleyWatch. This is all to say that we have created a unique program that is working, and we want to get you involved.
This year we will showcase the following companies at our Accelerator Demo on September 26th. These startups have gathered significant traction in the past 10 weeks: preorders, downloads, and completed efficacy trials. You can read more about each of them below. Each is eager to tell you more about how they can solve identified problems for you.
- Active Joints – A quantified remote therapy device for hip and knee replacement therapy. They have successfully completed their efficacy trials at Burke Rehabilitation and are being courted by ElabNYC, Mt Sinai, and angel investors.
- Wrkbook – A just-in-time employment market for contractors and trade laborers. They have successfully figured out the growth hack for supply and demand, and are rapidly expanding into multiple markets with a 600 employees per job listing ratio.
- Nuravine – An agtech startup with their first product locked down for distribution in 10% of the 2800 hydroponics stores serving their initial audience.
- dawaCare – A social impact startup helping hospitals in emerging countries to improve patient outcomes with an analog/digital solution that helps with patient follow up. To date in their first pilot study in St Victoria in Cameroon, they have increased patient return rate from an effective zero return rate to a whopping 40% return rate and are expanding into multiple distrcit hospitals in Cameroon.
- Fxn Cosmetics – A cosmetics startup creating makeup for trauma victims that covers and heals scars. They have early acceptance into Nestle SHIELD's skin health accelerator and are presently shipping out their first batch of product to their early sign ups.
- Cyker – A situational awareness IoT device for cyclists that combines turn by turn directions with accelerometer data, road congestion data and a backup sensor to “score” routes for safety and comfort. Their solution allows for incorporation into self-driving car navigation data to make sure both the cyclists and the burgeoning automotive automation market can be as aware as possible about the vehicles that are on the road with them. They have already been accepted into the EDC-funded Futureworks accelerator and are getting ready to ramp up production for their Kickstarter campaign.
This Accelerator Demo will be taking place in the burgeoning tech scene in Harlem at The City College of New York on Tuesday, September 26th. The pitches will begin at 6:00pm, but doors will open as early as 4:30pm for a panel discussion on entrepreneurship featuring Zahn/CCNY alumni KeenHome, InYourClass, Veripad, Key Jargon, and Gleam.
If you plan to join us, please RSVP at the following link. And don't hesitate to share with friends or colleagues who will find an event like this valuable.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zahn-center-accelerator-demo-tickets-37168…