Toronto-based accelerator Extreme Startups was first announced in January, with a $7 million fund to invest in early-stage companies, and its first cohort took place during the late spring and early summer. That group did pretty well, with startups like Shoplocket, SimplyUs, and Verelo (all covered in TechCrunch!) graduating earlier this summer. Of the five participating, two raised seed rounds of $1 million or more from Canadian and U.S.-based VC firms.
Like other incubators, Extreme Startups provides funding, mentorship, and access to administrative and legal support for startups that participate. It gives teams $50,000 at the start of the 12-week program in exchange for 10 percent of equity, as well as an additional $150,000 convertible note upon exiting the program. In addition, participating startups get coworking space, will attend weekly classes, and will have access to more than 50 mentors that have signed up to help.
Today, Extreme Startups is announcing that it has selected the next five companies to take part in its incubator. This second cohort will take place over the next few months and end with a demo day on November 28.
- Kera – Lets developers build in-app tutorials that can interact with page elements like buttons, text inputs and forms.
- Picatic – Previously covered by TechCrunch, Picatic provides crowdfunding for concerts and other events.
- MyShoebox – Gives users unlimited photo backup in the cloud.
- Shifthub – A SaaS-based shift scheduling platform for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Venio – Provides a platform to help users create and plan healthy meals.
In addition to the startups that are participating in its accelerator, Extreme Startups has also put aside some space for promising young companies to work alongside them. It’s launched the Preccelerator, which provides free coworking space and other perks for five awesome startups. Here are the five that are in this time:
- Bebedo – Platform for searching nearby events.
- Brika – Limited-time only sale site for well-crafted goods.
- MommiesFirst – Curated care package service for new and expecting moms.
- Pictoreo – A new way to create animated gifs on Android and iOS phones.
- Relay – A mobile collaborative entertainment platform.