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Chicago’s cornerstone accelerator program Techstars officially announced the 10 companies in its summer 2014 class, six of which are from Chicago. Although there’s an uptick in the number of local companies accepted since last year, international startups also are well-represented in this year’s class with companies from Israel and from India selected.
No matter where the companies hail from, they will all relocate to work out of 1871 from May 27 until Demo Day August 27. While at 1871, the startups receive $18,000 in seed funding and mentorship from managing director Troy Henikoff and co-founder Sam Yagan among many other executives.
Under Henikoff and Yagan’s leadership (and under the name Excelerate Labs), the accelerator produced local successes such as Food Genius, GiveForward, Tap.Me and Spot Hero. In February 2013, Excelerate Labs partnered with Boulder-based Techstars to gain a nationwide alumni and mentor network. Today, with the power of Techstars and of Excelerate to back it, “the Techstars Chicago program has helped to solidify Chicago as a leading destination for technology startups,” Henikoff said.
Here’s the 10 companies that are becoming part of the Techstars legacy in Chicago this year:
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What they do: Clutch’s expert tutors simplify your studying with in-depth, textbook-specific videos and practice materials that improve grades for college students.
Where they’re from: Miami
What they’re working on this summer: “We look forward to connecting with experienced mentors and improving our product, distribution and better understand our user base.”
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What they do: provide a solution that connects your company’s data, making it safe to run your business on the spreadsheets you build.
Where they’re from: Chicago
What they’re working on this summer: “We’re looking to connect the spreadsheet wranglers, who spend lots of time getting data into Excel spreadsheets or who routinely email or ftp spreadsheet files.”
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Their product: a platform for gamers to discover and monetize gaming video content.
Where they’re from: Nashville
What they’re working on this summer: “We’re excited to work with the excellent mentors at Techstars, as well as to have the opportunity to focus and push hard on our business full time.”
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What they do: provide real estate professionals a streamlined way to manage their content, analyze listing performance and market apartment units, condos and single-family rentals across multiple listing services and social media platforms.
Where they’re from: Chicago Heights
What they’re working on at Techstars: “We’re looking to continue to grow and develop our strategic partnerships.”
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Their product: a platform for brands to seamlessly create beautiful mobile sites and apps for e-commerce stores.
Where they’re from: Santa Clara and India
What they’re working on at Techstars this summer: “We’re looking forward to connecting with mentors experienced in building and scaling e-commerce and retail technology.”
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What they do: provide a next-generation analytics and visualization technology dramatically reduce enterprise costs related to eDiscovery, fraud investigations and compliance.
Where they’re from: Chicago
What they’re working on this summer: “We are working on the NexLP Story Engine, a technology that can understand what people are writing in their communications and when they change their behavior. We are trying to bring this advanced technology to the enterprise market to reduce service costs related to fraud investigations, compliance and legal services.”
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What they do: make managing deliveries and packages simple for front desk staff, doormen and mailrooms.
Where they’re from: Chicago
What they’re working on at Techstars: “finding more apartment, condo or office buildings that need a better way to manage deliveries.”
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Who they are: a platform-as-a-service company that delivers data-driven, highly scalable telephony services at a fraction of the cost of incumbents.
Where they’re from: Chicago
What they’re working on at Techstars: “We’re looking forward to meeting with potential investors and mentors who can help us accelerate our growth.”
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What they do: help local businesses increase sales by offering a fast, reliable, same-day delivery experience.
Where they’re from: Chicago
What they’re working on this summer: “taking WeDeliver to the next level with the help of the Techstars network.”
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What they do: enable e-commerce brands and retailers to personalize product images, allowing users to visually try on merchandise before purchase.
Where they’re from: Israel
What they’re working on at Techstars: “We’re looking to build our network of e-commerce relationships to help us scale yRuler in the U.S.”
