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Boston’s TechStars tech incubator program wrapped up its first year last night with nine early startups making their pitch to investors.
For those who have been following the companies from early on in the program, the evening presented some surprises — not the least of which was Amp Idea.
Amp Idea as recently as July had been on the cusp of a business model transition from making taxicab credit card processing screens to smart-home networking software. The startup is now seeking partnerships with baby-care manufacturing companies to produce a smart baby monitor that can stream MP3 music to the cribside, stream web-enabled video and even track a baby’s sleep patterns.
Of the nine TechStars companies, Amp Idea is one of six that plan to remain in the Boston area after the program closes this month. AccelGolf, which turned the heads of several among the audience of angel investors, mentors and others who crowded Microsoft’s 11th-floor NERD function hall, will return to Portland, Maine, with a $250,000 no-interest loan from the state of Maine, according to co-founder William Sulinski.
AccelGolf, which Mass High Tech first profiled in February when the company was called mCaddie, caught the eye of seed-stage investor Bill McCullen, director at Cambridge-based LaunchCapital with its freemium rangefinder and performance tracking software for the Blackberry and iPhone.
“As a hack golfer, I’ll take anything that can improve my game,” McCullen quipped.
AccelGolf also made changes over the summer, tweaking its business model to offer its mobile application free, and proposing to sell aggregated stroke and performance data to golf brands.
McCullen also mentioned Baydin, which is developing e-mail search software for the enterprise. The company’s founders liken Baydin to GMail’s ad words service. Like Google’s moneymaking ad model they would parse e-mails to recommend documents and other content users might need. More changes: Baydin founders Alex Moore and Stephen Lee, who both had come from Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI), have parted ways, Lee said, with Moore staying on to lead the company.
Unfortunately for would-be investors, Baydin is one of two companies that is not seeking venture funding. The company is self-funded, Moore said, but they are interested in talking with anyone who has expertise in their area.
The other company that made a “no-pitch pitch” was Oneforty, the Twitter app store founded by social-media maven Laura Fitton, better known on the social micro-blogging service as @Pistachio. Along with AccelGolf, Oneforty is one of two TechStars Boston companies to receive funding to date, having taken $250,000 from angel investors.
Here’s a list of all nine companies that runs down their business proposition, the money they’re seeking and their plans for staying in Boston or leaving for greener pastures.
AccelGolf
Web: www.accelgolf.com
Range finding and performance tracking application for the Blackberry and iPhone; customer data aggregation for major brands
Funding sought: $250,000 ($300,000 committed from angels and the state of Maine)
Staying? No. Returning to Portland, Maine
Amp Idea
Web: www.ampidea.com
Networked baby monitors with built-in MP3 player, video and sleep tracking capability
Funding sought: $600,000
Staying? Yes.
Baydin
Web: www.baydin.com
Enterprise e-mail search and e-discovery for Windows data systems
Funding sought: $0 (self-funded)
Staying? Yes.
Havemyshift
Web: www.havemyshift.com
Online marketplace for hourly workers to swap shifts
Funding sought: $400,000
Staying? Undecided.
LangoLAB
Web: www.langolab.com
Online tool for foreign language learning using online video content such as YouTube
Funding sought: $360,000
Staying? Undecided.
Localytics
Web: www.localytics.com
Real-time analytics platform for mobile application developers
Funding sought: $500,000
Staying? Yes.
Oneforty
Web: www.oneforty.com
Application marketplace for Twitter
Funding sought: $0 ($250,000 committed from angel investors)
Staying? Yes.
Sensobi
Web: www.sensobi.com
Personal relationship management software for the Blackberry
Funding sought: $300,000
Staying? Yes
Tempmine
Web: www.tempmine.com
Online temporary staffing marketplace
Funding sought: $450,000
Staying? Yes.
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