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FAU Tech Runway® Reveals its Eighth Venture Class

Tech Runway Venture Class 8

By brittany sylvestri | 5/19/2020

FAU Tech Runway®  recently hosted its annual Launch Competition, revealing its eighth class, “Venture Class 8.” 

The Launch Competition provides the most promising startups and talented entrepreneurs in South Florida with an opportunity to join a year-long program that offers competition winners “best-in-class” instruction, mentoring, networking, marketing and capital-raising assistance, co-working space, events, intern support, and other vital programs.

Among the 20 companies joining Venture Class 8, seven of these will receive a $7,500 cash investment award.  

The 20 winners representing community, faculty and student tracks were selected by a panel of judges, including successful entrepreneurs, technology investors, entrepreneurship professors, economic development professionals, philanthropists, and commercial bankers.

This year’s seven cash investment award winners are:

  • Clearway Global: a medical foods company focused on sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder affecting hemoglobin.
  • Lab in a Window: an educational technology platform for distance-based college-level engineering instruction.
  • AerLogs: a SaaS-based data company that organizes maintenance, repair, and warranty information on a blockchain platform for the aviation and defense industries. 
  • Cloudsyte: a cloud-based supply chain automation platform for small and medium-sized businesses.
  • Guident: an advanced artificial intelligence-assisted, remote tele-monitoring and control center for autonomous vehicles. 
  • OneTouch: a warehouse distribution solution for consumer product SKUs allowing for 100 percent automation, ensuring that each product is only touched once after initial receipt.
  • LifeMetrics: an iOS app providing a daily questionnaire embedding psychology-based questions to enhance wellness, health, and productivity. 

In addition, 13 more companies were awarded including: Emergent Healthcare; Imanyco; Polka Box; My Smart Uncle; HEALTHdrum.com; The Platypus; NEPTUNYA; DCMETRIX; SPods; TeleCare; GetSpeedBack; Cellucis; and FloraScentials.

“The 2020 FAU Tech Runway Launch Competition was a huge success on all levels,” said Rhys L. Williams, managing director of FAU Tech Runway®. “Entrepreneurs submitted a record number of applications and we can’t wait to work with this new group of entrepreneurs over the next year. We are confident that this Venture Class will leave its mark as South Florida’s next generation of global entrepreneurs.”  

In addition to the investment awards received by the top third of the incoming class, all Venture Class 8 winners join a robust community of fellow entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, instructors, and top-level support professionals. They will receive co-working access, skills training, and expert business mentoring, all at no cost.  Nearly 70 highly-vetted, MIT program-trained mentors, instructors, and staff serve as mentors, trainers, and support professionals.  

“The caliber of entrepreneurial venture companies that FAU Tech Runway® attracts is a testament to the quality of the program, and each venture class has shown that,” said Daniel Flynn, Ph.D., vice president for research at FAU. “This one is no different. Its why Tech Runway has grown to become one of the premier university-based accelerator programs in the state and across the country.”

FAU Tech Runway® is a public-private partnership formed to incubate and accelerate early-stage technology-based companies, under the purview of FAU’s Division of Research. It has provided financial support, entrepreneurial education, free workspace, investor introductions, expert mentoring, marketing assistance, student interns, and a close-knit entrepreneurial community for 93 early-stage companies since its launch. 

In five years, 587 jobs and 199 internships have been created; 96 FAU students have been employed; $95 million in capital has been raised from all sources, and more than $109 million in revenue has been earned.

For more information on FAU Tech Runway® visit techrunway.fau.edu.

-FAU-

Tags: research | faculty and staff | community

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