Techstars Chicago recently announced its latest cohort of mostly Chicago-based startups that will participate in the annual accelerator program.
Over the next three months, the startups and their founders will receive mentorship from other successful CEO and entrepreneurs. Each company will also receive $120,000 in funding for participating in the program.
This year’s Techstars Chicago accelerator program features eight startups that are based in Chicago, as well as startups that are based in Cleveland, Israel and Nigeria.
“The true value of the Techstars experience are the connections you foster with the people around you. The lifelong bonds that get formed throughout [the] program and long thereafter are hard to quantify but are consistently the number one benefit our founders say they experience from the program,” Neal Sáles-Griffin, managing director of Techstars Chicago, said in a statement.
Here’s a look at the startups participating in the program this year.
BāKIT Box: The women-founded startup provides monthly baking kits to subscribers. Chicago-based BāKIT focuses on sweet or savory kits that are intended to make baking fun and easy for customers.
Bekome: The Chicago-based direct-to-consumer nutrition startup sells all-natural products specifically formulated to relieve anxiety. The company says its products are not meant to replace other forms of mental well-being, such as therapy or prescribed medication, but are meant to complement them.
Bloomfilter: Cleveland-based Bloomfilter is a software startup that develops enterprise project management solutions. According to the company’s website, its software gives full visibility into projects and can help guide teams to complete them.
Brocali: As an e-learning platform for medical students, Brocali covers over 3,000 medical topics with interactive lessons and assessments. The platform, based in Israel, supports several languages and is meant to help students pass license and board exams.
Cue the Curves: Based in Chicago, this online shopping platform specializes in selling plus-size clothing. The platform features over 200 brands and is intended to help women find pieces that fit their style and size and better their relationships with clothing.
Flare FS: The fintech startup helps nonprofit organizations with their accounting and budgeting needs. The platform also helps process non-payroll transactions. Flare FS is a fully remote company.
Haylon Technologies: The Chicago-based startup develops new battery technologies with better capabilities than traditional lithium-ion batteries. Haylon’s batteries have been used in drones, electric scooters and power tools.
Meal Village: Unlike other meal kit companies, Meal Village sells these kits without requiring a monthly subscription or contract. Kits from the Chicago-based startup start at $6.95.
Near Technology: The Chicago-based startup provides end-to-end tech solutions meant to help families stay connected with their loved ones living in retirement communities.
Remote Gravity: This advertising platform helps marketers find physical ad spaces and launch campaigns all from an online platform. Remote Gravity is based in Nigeria and currently serves clients in Africa and other emerging markets.
Transfer Thought: Based in Chicago, the no-code platform allows companies can create safety training materials using prebuilt templates. The materials, which feature VR integrations, can be sent to employees’ phones and laptops.
Zest: A Chicago-based mobile cooking app, Zest releases weekly recipes with 10-minute videos. The recipes are created by two former Michelin Star chefs and are taught through easy-to-follow methods.
