Digital marketing executive Sue Heilbronner, left, and local entrepreneur and angel investor Elizabeth Kraus are co-founders of MergeLane. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)
Noted: Boulder-based announced its second class of female-led startups on Wednesday. Three are from Boulder.
The 10 startups, with a heavy dose of tech, were selected from more than 1,500 companies that were invited to apply, said Sue Heilbronner, MergeLane’s CEO and cofounder. To be considered, a company needs to have a female cofounder or leader.
MergeLane with a different approach to helping businesses accelerate. MergeLane didn’t require companies to spend the entire 12-week program in Boulder. Participants were allowed to spend weeks at a time at home with their families.
“We are largely sticking with a model that worked. We upped teams to 10. We have an even more national profile and reach. The 1500-team outreach was a feat,” she said in an e-mail.
Several companies ended up raising venture capital, including Havenly, a Denver-based online-interior design service that last November. According to MergeLane, the eight graduates have raised $11 million in funding and created 100 jobs.
This year, participants are expected to spend the first two weeks and the last week in Boulder. The rest of the 12-week period is done remotely. The program starts Feb. 1.
The MergeLane 2016 class, as shared by the company:
- : Ann Arbor, MI. Alchemie teaches complex, hard-to-pass science subjects like organic chemistry through mobile-enabled, game-based learning.
- : Greenville, SC. Atlas Vault s SaaS solution allows enterprises to ensure consistent cyber-security protection at every level of their complex supply chains.
- : Chicago, IL. BallotReady is a mobile-enabled online voter guide designed to increase overall participation in local elections by putting high-quality information in an online platform that voters will actually use.
- : Memphis, TN. Cabsolutely s tech platform gives traditional taxi companies the ability to provide drivers and riders with a seamless experience on par with the leading ride-sharing companies.
- : Boulder, CO. Cloudforest enables building professionals to make fully informed design and construction decisions at the ideation stage of commercial projects.
- : Boulder, CO. Globig is accelerating the internationalization objectives of expanding companies by giving them the tools, experts, and knowledge they need to enter new international markets efficiently.
- : Boulder, CO. Hatch is a marketing planning tool that helps businesses quickly gather ideas, forecast outcomes, and demonstrate ROI across all media channels.
- : San Francisco, CA. Healthiest is a content and commerce platform for alternative medicine.
- : San Francisco, CA. LittleLane gives parents access to the best kids events and activities in their area and the opportunity to explore a variety of new options seamlessly with LittlePass.
- : San Francisco, CA. StartWise is a next-generation crowdfunding platform that enables socially responsible companies to raise capital from a new cadre of investors in exchange for revenue-sharing participation.
