Startup accelerator DreamIt Ventures is introducing its Fall 2011 Philadelphia class today, which includes five minority-owned companies selected in collaboration with Comcast Ventures. In May, DreamIt and Comcast teamed up to provided seed funding, training and mentoring to minority-led startups, starting with DreamIt’s fall program.
The current class includes students and alumni from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Duke, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and MIT. Startup founders have past work experience at Google, Yahoo, Intel, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan.
Five of the companies were selected together by DreamIt and Comcast Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of Comcast Corporation, as part of its Minority Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (MEAP). This program provides an extra $350,000 on top of the funding DreamIt offers for minority-led startups. The current group includes owners who are African-American, Asian, Hispanic and Indian.
MEAP is the first initiative from the $20 million fund created by Comcast as a part of the acquisition of NBC Universal. The fund will also be used to invest in other minority-led startups and initiatives outside of DreamIt in the future.
The 15 startups in DreamIt’s new fall class include the following companies (note, links were provided when available):
- Cloudmine, Philadelphia, PA: The world’s simplest mobile backend-as-a-service provider.
- ClrTouch, Brooklyn, NY: Enabling consumers and publishers to port web content into a custom tablet interface.
- ElectNext, Philadelphia, PA: It works like a dating site, for your elections. Compare candidates and find the perfect fit. (MEAP company)
- FeedbackTrail, West Chester, PA: Building a better app experience through feedback.
- Grassroots Unwired, Philadelphia, PA: Mobile applications that provide the accountability and efficiency of real-time tracking and reporting for political campaigns and non-profits that capture data in the field.
- Kwelia, New York, NY: Quantitatively derived analytical tools that will facilitate decision-making for residential real estate. (MEAP company)
- Metalayer, Washington, DC: A visual search company that turns the real world into sortable data. Turn your pictures into 1,000 words. (MEAP company)
- Nopone, Chatanooga, TN: Bringing together contractors, builders, project managers, DIYers, and building material suppliers. List it. Supply it. Build it.
- Oneaway, Philadelphia, PA and Palo Alto, CA: An app that introduces you to new people.
- Polin8, Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY: Mobile platform media studio specializing in pioneering apps that engage users with high-concept visual, sound and touch interactions.
- Qwite, Los Gatos, CA: A location-based service, taking you where you want to go – from intent, to experience and memories. (MEAP company)
- SnipSnap, Philadelphia, PA: The first app to scan and save coupons to your mobile phone.
- Spling, Summit, NJ: A social broadcasting network that allows you and your friends to easily share, discover, and experience media on the Internet.
- Technology Startup (Name Being Finalized), Washington, DC: A platform that will help friends make their plans more easily. (MEAP company)
- TraRoma, Taiwan and New York, NY: A dating site with a female point of view.