DC tech firm MassLight picked its first investment cohort

MassLight, the DC-software company turned investor, just dropped the selectees of its $100,000 investment cohort.

After announcing its cohort plans last summer, the Chinatown software consultancy just dropped the first members of its latest cohort. The 50-person company has been investing in local startups for the last five years but took a more niche approach this year. With this cohort, MassLight was looking for startups in need of technical assistance or a technical cofounder, and is investing $100,000 in exchange for 3% to 20% in equity.

The $100,000 investments — which MassLight calls a build-for-equity model — is an accelerator program the company plans to host twice a year. The goal is to offer companies the investment while also allowing startups to talk and interact with one another as they build their business.

“We feel like if we move to a cohort model where it’s clearly defined that this is a group, companies within the cohort will get that sort of interaction, not just between us and one single startup,” CEO Daniel Abrams told Technical.ly in July. “But having the startups able to assist and help each other, we think will be pretty valuable.”

Check out the five startups that nabbed investments from MassLight:

• Endeema — The European company developed software to match energy consumption with the supply of renewable energy and recommendations for companies to save on electric costs and lower emissions.
• Wellfound Foods — This DC startup distributes healthy, prepackaged foods to wholesale sellers and retail stores, and in 2019 developed tech-based vending machines. MassLight will be helping out with building an app for users to check the availability of food near them.
• Goodshuffle — The DC-based company developed and operates an online marketplace for party rentals, among other SaaS offerings for the events industry.
• Venture Raise — This DC company helps match entrepreneurs and startups with investors via a social media platform similar to LinkedIn, which MassLight helped build.
• Ubinum — The Brooklyn startup created a subscription service for researchers that allows them to publish and share findings. MassLight is in the midst of building its software.

“We are pleased to announce our largest, most diverse cohort of build-for-equity companies ever,” Abrams wrote in a post announcing the news. “We are so excited to work with you as you scale and grow.”