Type to search

Small Business

Parallel18 selects 1st group of 38 startups for mentoring

Sebastian Vidal, executive director of the newly launched Parallel18 accelerator.

Sebastian Vidal, executive director of the newly launched Parallel18 accelerator.

Parallel18, an international accelerator for high impact innovative enterprises that want to scale their businesses from Puerto Rico, officially announced the 38 startups that will move to the island for five months to accelerate their companies and learn from business and technology experts worldwide.

A team of 100 global and local judges evaluated 415 applications via the YouNoodle platform to find the most innovative ideas and companies to come and take part in this unique program.

In addition to the 12 of startups coming directly from Puerto Rico, the globally diverse cohort also includes companies from Bulgaria, Italy, Argentina, Spain and others.

The 38 companies in the first 2016 cohort are: Americanflat, Campodata, ChallengeBox, Cinemad.tv, Club Veso, Colector, Crediyo, E-Farm, LLC, Ebrolis, ehumanlife Inc., Ezequiel Bucai, Gasolina Móvil, ifarmacias.com, Inbify, Locurity, MailLift.com, Memory Palace, Miora, New Grounds Food, Nineteenth Amendment, Novalogy, Pair, BUREA, Sabbatical, Sales Layer, SAMY ROAD, School Climate Solutions, Soapberri, Sodium Analyte Level Test, Space Rhino Games, SPOTERY, Stellup, Sunne Cleantech Lab, TalenTank, TiX.By, LLC, UAV-IQ Precision Agriculture, usheru, and ZURSH.

“This is an exciting defining moment for Parallel18 and Puerto Rico,” said Sebastián Vidal, executive director of Parallel18. “Our global team of judges was looking for innovative companies that have driven significant customer traction and are looking to take their company global. What we found was an amazing cohort that sets the bar high and will lend further credibility to the booming startup scene here on the island.”

While Parallel18 was focused on attracting startups from Puerto Rico, the United States mainland, Europe and Latin America, interest in the program transcended these markets. There are nine countries represented among all of the 38 companies in the cohort.

Thirty two percent of the startups come from Puerto Rico along with other countries that include India, Argentina, Serbia, Portugal, Spain, Australia, France and beyond.

Parallel18 is an international accelerator for high impact innovative enterprises that want to scale their businesses from Puerto Rico. It offers $40,000 in seed funding, mentoring, support and training, and workspace for five months; as well as access to valuable networks to help them scale into international markets. Those who decide to stay in Puerto Rico, once the program ends, may be eligible for a follow-on fund of up to $75,000 to match investment raised from private sources.

The program selects up to 40 companies twice a year. They must meet these basic criteria: be innovative; have three years or less of established business practice; be past the concept stage and have validated sales or product in addition to being scalable globally. The call for the second cohort will open in May.

Author Details
Author Details
This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
Tags:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *