Project Skyway continues to move the dial for early-stage tech in Minnesota as they announced today the next milestone: 25 ‘contenders’ will be competing next weekend for a final shot at Minnesota’s first tech accelerator.
The bootcamp kicks-off with an invitation only social gathering Friday night at CoCo (St.Paul), followed by back-to-back days of intense networking, learning and vetting. As the semi-finalists are immersing themselves, Project Skyway will be further trimming the group down to (up to) 10 startups chosen to participate in the inaugural summer accelerator experience which begins on August 1st.
“It was challenging to select these final 25 companies as the quality and quantity of applications received greatly exceeded our expectations. The fact that we received applications from all over the country as well as several countries further demonstrates we can attract companies to come to Minnesota. Now it is up to our community to keep them here,” says Project Skyway Founder Cem Erdem.
19 of the bootcamp contenders are from Minnesota, 3 from the Bay Area and 3 from New York. In alphabetical order:
ArtsApp – ArtsApp Audition Software is an online college application tool specializing in video-based submissions, to help Universities and Performing Arts programs screen and archive video-based applicants more efficiently.
Bundly – Bundly is building an experience marketplace that removes the financial risk associated with creating, sharing and finding meaningful experiences within one’s social network.
COR² Technology – offers a cloud based business process and work flow automation service to help organizations with 5 to 500 co-workers eliminate piles of paper pushing by integrating our simple applications with unlimited user licenses that power the whole organization.
Early Learning Labs – Early Learning Labs provides preschool assessments and professional development services to help early childcare providers develop kindergarten-ready children using validated research-based practices.
ePhiphony – RightOnInventory.com, is developing an online application to help small businesses automate the task of replenishing their inventory with business intelligence that maintains their peak financial performance.
Imdorse -Brands and social network users of all ages come together through a unique method developed by Imdorse.com Social network users promote brands they like or want to try by adding a brands logo to their Facebook or Twitter profile photo. Companies reward these Endorsers or “Imdorsers” with deals, discounts and freebies.
Impulse – Impulse, is developing a web browser application to help online shoppers save, share and purchase products from multiple sites simultaneously via a persistent personal shopping cart.
Labels 2 Learn – Labels 2 Learn, is developing a marketing channel in K-12 schools to help consumer brands reach 20 to 40 year-old moms using an online label redemption system.
Naiku – Naiku creates an affordable Software-as-a-Service that K-12 teachers use to easily individualize learning with a dashboard created by its proprietary analytics model.
NaviDate – NaviDate is a platform that uses realtime personal data stream monitoring and analytics to assist the 120 million singles in the United States in finding verifiable and compatible matches online.
Nitch – Nitch is an online platform for B2B collaboration and commerce.
Nodeler – Nodeler is developing a wireless game controller that can connect to a multitude of networked applications ranging from iPad games to movie and music players such as Amazon Video and Radio.
Paypongo – Paypongo’s service is a secure mobile payment solution which allows consumer to merchant transactions; consumer to consumer transactions; and merchant to merchant transactions all through mobile devices. Transactions can originate from banking accounts or credit cards.
Qualtrx – Qualtrx is a new healthcare sales channel–an online solutions marketplace where healthcare providers publish patient care needs, goals & priorities and where Pharma & Device vendors purchase these needs as “keywords” to make targeted needs-based proposals via the Qualtrx platform.
QwickMind – QwikMind, is building mobile games to help children learn by teaching an adorable character, Mongo, about healthy eating.
Referral Squirrel – Referral Squirrel is a marketing system experienced real estate agents use to consistently generate referrals by sending their friends, family and past clients exclusive special offers at local businesses.
SAYL – SAYL is creating an eCommerce site to bring rummage sales online in a safe, searchable, and fun way by enabling sellers to post and tag multiple items in a picture while allowing buyers to make an offer or inquire about other items left untagged.
Served – Served is developing a social networking site to help college students save money and time by making it easy for them to place orders online at quick-serve restaurants with a group of friends while earning points for completing tasks to spend on future orders.
SieEnt – SieEnt is a woman-run game development company creating and publishing subscription-based episodic video games on the PC-platform, with mobile and console portability, for the untapped gaming market of women, aged 25 to 64, who seek empowering entertainment that respects their interests, intelligence and limited free time.
Spice Apps – Spice Apps is developing niche web communities to help passionate users connect with like-minded people and brands through highly visual and interactive interfaces.
Study Sourced – Study sourced is creating an online marketplace for connecting undergraduate and graduate business students with interesting, real world problems for their class projects.
Telementry Web – TelemetryWeb helps makers of Internet-connected sensors and industrial devices build a new class of innovative, data-centric solutions by leveraging our ready-to-use, scalable Software-as-a-Service platform to secure, store, process, and integrate sensor data in novel ways.
Tuition Cast – TuitionCast is a search engine for higher education programs.
Under Books – UnderBooks compares book prices of campus book store with the largest online retailers all in one place for college students, with only three clicks.
Vanquish AP -VanquishAP is developing a real estate management platform that connects property managers, building owners, and tenants by creating local social communities while automating redundant tasks, and centralizing logistics.