Rome, NY – Wasabi Ventures and The Commercialization Academy would like to announce the member teams of the Spring 2016 Commercialization Academy Cohort. These tech transfer teams are being incubated while building their startups around Department of Defense intellectual property (IP) from the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) in Rome, New York.
There are 12 teams in all developing their startups through The Commercialization Academy. They hail from California, Arizona, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, and as far away as Chile in South America. Over the next five months, these entrepreneurs will receive an abundance of tools and resources, including an educational platform that will teach each of them the logistics of building a startup.
“The Commercialization Academy, based on the Wasabi Ventures Tech Transfer Accelerator (WVT2), has taken geography out of the equation when it comes to finding the right entrepreneurial talent with which to build great startups, while incorporating licensed AFRL technologies,” said Wasabi Ventures’ Managing Partner TK Kuegler.
The Commercialization Academy is a Griffiss Institute entrepreneurial education program sponsored by the AFRL/RI. The Griffiss Institute welcomed Wasabi Ventures to lead the way in the program in January 2015.
“The Griffiss Institute is extremely excited about the progress that has been made in the Commercialization Academy. Wasabi Ventures has been successful beyond our expectations, generating ideas and putting teams together to create startups for the Spring 2016 Commercialization Academy Cohort. This process is truly unique and is being noticed by virtually everyone in the technology transfer and venture capital communities,” said Bill Wolf, Director of the Griffiss Institute.
Each IP technology and entrepreneur went through an intense vetting process. Each entrepreneur selected embarks on a six-month acceleration process to build a piece of IP into a sustainable startup. Rolling acceptance to the program ended December 31, 2015.
Personal mentorship and incubation will be provided from both of Wasabi Ventures’ managing partners, TK Kuegler and Chris Yeh, leveraging the firm’s resources to build each startup. At the end of the program, the teams will present their startups in May 2016 at a live Demo Day in Rome, New York.
The following startup teams were selected to the Spring 2016 Commercialization Academy Cohort:
Inara – Veterinary telemedicine platform connecting pet owners with veterinarians and animal therapists via video chat on their smartphones.
Login With You – To remove passwords and password maintenance, Login With You utilizes biometric security to log you into your social accounts using device, facial, voice, or fingerprint recognition.
HausOPS – This web-based data collection, aggregation, and reporting service for home buyers and sellers models and generates a home’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), including the cost of utilities.
Voice Twist – Using encryption in real time, Voice Twist aims to solve the problem of insecure transmission and storage of voice communication.
Covrt – A cybersecurity solution that removes the possibility of browser-based malware threats and ensures online privacy. The desktop application runs in the background without the user’s knowledge.
GeoPixi – A software platform that is the SnapChat for engineers. GeoPixi’s crowd-sourcing photo recognition app places the power of photos and geolocation into a comprehensive Fixed Asset Inventory Management System (FAIMS).
Xompass – A cloud-based platform that allows industrial operators to collect millions of data points from sensors, machines, and operations to provide real-time information about their processes.
Human Elements, Inc. – Through its data analytics software, Human Elements offers a unique database and analytics capacity to their customers that enables them to correlate critical human factors with operational requirements to improve systems, training, and team composition.
SwitchNote – Platform for universities, in which students can upload and share documents, including homework, class notes, and tests, for monetary rewards.
CFO Technology Corporation – A true interactive 3D business intelligence and simulation platform (or game) for business made possible by merging virtual reality and artificial intelligence technologies.
d2ktek – Targeting the pulp and paper industry, d2ktek’s software learns process behaviors and incorporates temporal changes in operating conditions and environments to minimize the number of false alarms. Analysts can quickly discover behaviors of interest in the manufacturing environment and adjust the sensitivity for lower priority events.
Clayton Enterprises – Aiming to streamline the mobile capture process, Clayton Enterprises is creating an app that allows smartphones to become better document input devices and reduce the amount of steps involved.
As part of the Commercialization Academy program, every founding team member completes the proven Wasabi Ventures Academy. This free startup education program provides participants a thorough overview of the startup world and allows them to learn firsthand from working alongside Wasabi Ventures’ founders and other successful entrepreneurs. Participants are given access to Wasabi Ventures’ network of friends, advisors, and the more than 2000 prior graduates of the program in order to quickly connect with the startup world.
Wasabi Ventures’ approach to startup education is anchored by the Wasabi Ventures Academy, a program that is redefining startup education. Focused around the individual, the formal startup education curriculum teaches participants about the startup world, while they work towards potentially becoming a founder of a startup. With a combination of startup curriculum, resources, and opportunity, each individual can find exactly what they are looking for in the Wasabi Ventures Academy.
About the Griffiss Institute
Established in 2002 by the State of New York, the Griffiss Institute is an independent 501(c)(3) entity governed by a board of directors. By partnering the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) and its technologies with private industry and academia, the Griffiss Institute is able to facilitate and grow the technology base of the Upstate New York region. The institute has created a collaborative research environment accessible to AFRL/RI that provides an environment conducive to the growth of technology and ideas, while creating new business opportunities.
To learn more about the Griffiss Institute, please visit www.griffissinstitute.org.
About Wasabi Ventures
Founded by Chris Yeh and TK Kuegler in 2003, Wasabi Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in cofounding, investing in, incubating, building, and advising early-stage technology companies. Its approach allows early-stage startups to gain traction quickly through interaction with its founders. The firm is also involved in entrepreneurial education programs that move cutting-edge technologies out from leading federal, corporate, and university research labs around the world and into the market through the formation of startup ventures.
As part of the Wasabi Ventures Tech Transfer Accelerator (WVT2), Wasabi Ventures works with research labs around the world to foster partnerships that combine lab intellectual property (IP), Wasabi Ventures-trained startup founders, and intense Wasabi Ventures Academy training to produce growth-oriented startups. This revolutionary approach has dramatically increased the rate of licensure, new venture formation, and the likelihood of new ventures succeeding. Initial programs at three research labs around the United States have produced dozens of viable startups and a record number of licenses for the labs.
To learn more about Wasabi Ventures, please visit our website www.wasabiventures.com.