TechStars

Techstars is a mentorship-driven startup accelerator (Incubator) founded by David Cohen, Brad Feld, David Brown, and JaredPolis that holds 13 week programs for startups in Boulder Co, New York City, Boston, Seattle, San Antonio, Austin, Chicago and London.[1][2] It is considered one of the best startup accelerators in the world.[3][4][5][6][7] Fewer than 1% of the companies that apply to Techstars are accepted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techstars

== Chicago branch ==

I did a little mentoring to 2 companies in the 2015 class.

Launched Jan'2013 as a rebranding of ExcelerateLabs, a world-class accelerator in Chicago, led by accomplished entrepreneurs Troy Henikoff (Sure Payroll) and Sam Yagan (Ok Cupid, SparkNotes, Match Com) as well as two of the leading VC-s in the Midwest, SandboxIndustries’ Nick Rosa, and NewWorldVentures’ Adam Koopersmith.

=== The 2014 class: ===

included:

Clutch Prep: An education platform targeted at college students that provides in-depth, textbook-specific videos and practice materials, presented by subject experts and tutors. Oct'2015 doing 500Startups.

Data Everywhere: The company offers a platform that allows companies to safely build applications in Excel utilizing the company’s data. No recent funding?

Game Wisp: A platform directed at gamers to discover and monetize premium gaming video content. No recent funding?

In Rentive Listings: A platform for real estate professionals that allows them to efficiently manage their content, analyze listing performance, and market various property rentals across several listing services and social media platforms. Raised $100k from Steve Case in Apr'2015.

Mart Mobi: A platform that allows brands/companies to easily create high-quality mobile sites and apps for ecommerce stores. Acquired May'2015 by Snap Deal.

Nex L P: Offers next-gen analytics and visualization technology that aims to reduce the enterprise costs related to eDiscovery, fraud investigations, and compliance. Raised $2M Sept'2014

Package Zen: Provides a two-tap solution (via smartphone) to manage deliveries and packages. Raised $2M in 2015?

Telnyx: A platform-as-a-service company that delivers data-driven, highly scalable telephony services at a fraction of the cost of incumbents. Raised $1M Sept'2014.

We Deliver: Provides local businesses with fast, reliable, same-day deliver services by crowdsourcing the manpower of the community. Acquired by Deliv Jun'2015 after failing to get funding.

Y Ruler: Enables ecommerce brands and retailers to personalize product images, allowing users to visually try on merchandise before purchase. Renamed Tangiblee. Raised seed round Dec'2014.