ETC whittles down AccelerateBaltimore finalists

Six startups are going to kick off 2015 with some really good news.
They’ll be the final cohort for next year’s AccelerateBaltimore, organized by the Emerging Technology Centers. The class will be announced shortly into the New Year.
In all, 77 companies applied for the 13-week accelerator program, from around the country and the world. Six applicant startups are from overseas.

We really had a really wide spectrum, from people who are building applications to people who are trying to gamify exercise.

“This year we just had a little better outreach and we also leveraged some of the connections we made to the international visitors we’ve had,” said Jorge Eduardo Castillo, chief marketing officer in residence for the ETC.

After the Dec. 1 deadline, 13 finalists met with a selection committee, and each had seven minutes to pitch the group.

“We really had a really wide spectrum, from people who are building applications to people who are trying to gamify exercise,” Castillo said. “We had a company that was trying to make remodeling easy, where you can buy your windows in the storefront, which is their website, and you can click and go through.”

As long as it’s tech-related — some more conventional firms applied, unsuccessfully — companies have a shot at the accelerator.

Applicants had “very innovative and interesting ideas, which we like to see, but also great teams, so narrowing it down was very difficult,” said Jacqueline Albright, the ETC’s community and program manager.

Companies selected for AccelerateBaltimore get $25,000 in seed funding, space at the ETC’s Haven Street incubator and access to advisers, support and networking opportunities through the ETC.

Alumni of the program’s first three classes include Allovue, Unbound Concepts and NewsUp.

After the winners are announced in early January, they’ll get to work on the accelerator program starting Jan. 12, with a kickoff happy hour on Jan. 22.