Tech Launch announced the second class of startup companies; following on the first class, which featured Pervasive Group and MMGuardian Parental Control.
NorthJersey.com shared all the details.
Tech Launch requires half of its participants to be from New Jersey. However, many of the companies, like self-help app SeekChange or cellphone battery transfer device and app ShareWatt, are from New York City. The team of Caktus, an app-connected water bottle, is from Finland. Caktus Chief Executive Officer Panu Keski-Pukkila, who has been working on other start-ups in New York City, found out about TechLaunch by searching online.
“I know there is a vibrant tech community here in New Jersey,” Keski-Pukkila said.
Tech Launch began in February 2012, when the state Economic Development Authority put $150,000 into the program to select a group of technology start-ups to undergo 12 weeks of business training and mentoring. Some graduates include Clifton-based app company Pervasive Group Inc. and Nickelbus.com of Mahwah, a bus-scheduling website.
The accelerator does not guarantee funding; rather, it helps to prepare the businesses for the next round of financing, Casabona said. To date, the 10 companies that participated in Tech Launch last year have raised around $300,000, he said. “They’re out there pitching, trying to raise funds, which is what they should be doing,” Casabona said.
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