Greater Cincinnati’s faith-backed accelerator program,
Ocean, welcomed its second class of startup participants last week. The nine companies include two from the United Kingdom and three from outside Cincinnati.
“We are thrilled that the concept of Ocean as an accelerator has an appeal that has grown to the point where we’re reaching people well beyond Cincinnati,” says Ocean CEO Scott Weiss. “It is a diverse and exciting group of companies.”
The new class includes companies at very different stages in their business development.
“Companies including Homefield, Riser and Devoo are just at the beginning of their journey,” Weiss says. “They have great insights, great founders and are beginning to pull together their product and the business plan to take that product forward. At the other end of the spectrum, we have companies like Liquid which are established and generating revenue and are ready to use Ocean to get to the next stage.”
Ocean also recruited a range of business types for the new class, including consumer applications, business to consumer and business to business.
The nine members of the
2016 Ocean class are:
Devoo: helps friends connect with activities and discounts
Feasty: matches hungry diners with nearby restaurant specials
Homefield: engages fans with each other and the game
Liquid: provides data collection, management and collaborative resources for scientific research
RISR: offers personal coaching for student athletes
Spatial: uses social media to analyze sentiment patterns and define the vibe of a neighborhood
Spirit Labs: developed Lepton to connect donors with causes, ministries and charities
We Help Others: works with churches and nonprofits to generate revenue with underutilized resources
We Love Work: matches job candidates to companies by evaluating the compatibility of the candidates’ values with the company culture to improve the success of recruiting and hiring
The Ocean participants will work with other founders, entrepreneurs, mentors and subject area experts over the course of their five-month residency at the organization’s work space adjacent to Crossroads Church in Oakley.
“We have a rich pool of mentors,” Weiss says. “As part of their commitment, they give active service to our companies. So a mentor with a financial background could help a company set up their initial charter of accounts; someone with a marketing background could be helping a company validate an insight. We are fortunate to have great partners.”
Coffee chats with other startup founders and entrepreneurs, including Ocean’s
2015 graduates, provides an opportunity for the current class to share experiences and ask questions. Teaching sessions are offered at least twice a week to address specialized business topics as well as the faith-based subjects that differentiate Ocean from other accelerator programs.
“Ocean is beginning to prove that it’s a very effective business accelerator,” Weiss says. “But it is uniquely an accelerator that builds into the founder by taking a spiritual journey that’s integrated into the business journey. So the founder, the person, comes out of our program with more insight, self-awareness and maturity, and that is what helps them succeed as an entrepreneur.”
The 2016 Ocean class will have its demo day on April 28, but the program continues through May to help the class handle the negotiating, media coverage and other opportunities that arise after their demo day presentations.
“The date of demo day is carefully planned with
Cintrifuse and our other partners in the city,” Weiss says. “All these people are working hard to continue to grow the
vibrant startup economy we’re seeing in the region. We want Ocean to be an additive experience to the startup ecosystem so the region continues to shine.”
Other Cincinnati startup news
Bad Girl Ventures will announce the first class of its new
LAUNCH program at a Feb. 3 event at Rhinegeist. Cintrifuse CEO Wendy Lea will give the keynote address at the free event.
The next day, Covington-based
UpTech holds its fourth demo day at 84.51 downtown. Reservations are required for both events.
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