ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – (August 1st, 2022) – On July 27th, the Tampa Bay Innovation Center (TBIC), an early-stage tech incubator and accelerator, hosted a Showcase event featuring the six startup companies that participated in its most recent B2B accelerator program. The 12-week program, which kicked off in April, consisted of weekly group workshops supplemented by 1-on-1 mentoring to help these early-stage ventures with customer discovery, product road mapping, pricing, and other go-to-market skills vital for startup success.
The Showcase event, conducted virtually over Zoom, featured brief overviews of each company’s solution and their focus on the product-market fit for solving a very specific customer problem. The 60+ second intro was then followed by 5-10 minutes of Q&A led by a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs and early-stage angel investors. “I’ve been honored to be a mentor and panelist for every TBIC Accelerator Cohort. The companies continue to be more impressive. All the founders in this cohort did an amazing job and demonstrated that understanding your customer and refining your product are critical factors in gaining traction. It’s impressive to see that every company nailed those proof points.” said Joy Randels of The Prowess Group, who was one of the panel experts that quizzed the startup founders on their ideas.
The startups that participated in cohort #5 include:
Beacon Advocates – Resource marketplace for connecting cancer patients and their families with a wide range of resources for enhancing care
CBio – Diagnostic lab tool for use in vaccine development, drug testing, and pathogen detection
Cross Compute – Software tools for infrastructure planning in public utility coops
Destination Better – ESG auditing and reporting tool for public companies
SueApp – Legaltech product for easy filling of small claims online
Zing Drone – Software platform for commercial operators of autonomous drones
These companies are working on emerging tech in the areas of #medtech, #healthtech, #fintech, #dataanalytics, #esgreporting, and #droneservice.
“Most successful startups have two defining characteristics, deep domain expertise in an industry or technology coupled with an insatiable curiosity for solving real-world problems,” said Ken Evans, managing director, tech accelerator. “In this program, founders learn to focus on the ideal early-adopter user that is actively seeking new solutions to real business problems and is more likely to be startup-friendly.”
The program is made possible by a network of 75+ mentors and advisors, many of whom are the region’s top technology and business leaders. Thirty-two companies have participated in the program since its inception in late 2019. Their final showcase presentations can be viewed on the Tampa Bay Innovation Center’s YouTube channel – https://youtu.be/az4W5RN3JEo
About Tampa Bay Innovation Center:
Tampa Bay Innovation Center supports entrepreneurial success, fosters the creation of high-tech jobs, and develops new sources of technology and manufacturing capabilities by nurturing early-stage ventures as they grow and launch their products into the marketplace. The Innovation Center offers programs that are tailored to the innovator/entrepreneur and provides guidance in market research, business formation, product & technology planning, commercialization, and organizational growth & leadership.
In February, the Tampa Bay Innovation Center began construction of a purpose-built 45,000 sq. ft. startup incubator facility in the St. Pete Innovation District. In October of last year, it was announced that Ark Investment Management would be the title sponsor for this facility and will collaborate with TBIC to focus on platforms of innovation, including data analytics, robotics, artificial intelligence, energy storage, and blockchain technology.
Follow Tampa Bay Innovation Center on Twitter and Instagram, @tbinnovates, and on LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/company/2556307 for updates and future events.