Google backs Maine startup with Chilean roots
Other news: Attenex pivots to ad tech, Roux Institute names new Founder Residency cohort, bluShift & Tanbark win pitch contests, Greenlight Maine crowns Season 7 winners
☀️ Good morning!
I’m back after a short summer break from the newsletter made necessary by kids’ end-of-school schedules, my family finally being hit with COVID, some hefty work projects, and jury duty… wow, it’s been a busy summer so far. So I’ll be rounding up a month’s worth of news in this edition—apologies if some of this is “old news” by now.
What's covered in this week's edition:
Eskuad, a Portland-based startup with Chilean roots, earned the backing of Google
Roux Institute names five startups to its new Founder Residency cohort
Attenex pivoted, rebranding as Popsixle
bluShift Aerospace selected its rocket-launch site and won Dirigo Labs’ inaugural pitch competition
Tanbark won the LaunchPad pitch competition and took home the $50K prize
Greenlight Maine crowned its Season 7 winners
Before we get to the news, I want to thank Maine Startups Insider's newest Sustaining Member: Alan Caron, president of ClimateWork Maine.
I wouldn’t be doing this without the support from Maine’s startup community. If, like Alan, you appreciate what MSI is trying to do and have the financial wherewithal to support my efforts, please consider becoming a Sustaining Member.
Keep creating, keep innovating, keep curious.
-Whit Richardson
/ News
Google backs Eskuad with $100K award
Google this week selected Eskuad, a Portland-based startup with Chilean roots, as one of 50 startups it will support, both financially and otherwise, via its Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund.
The company, which was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Roux Institute Techstars Accelerator in Portland, has built a mobile-first data platform for businesses that have employees operating in the field (e.g., logging, aquaculture, etc.).
Eskuad will receive a non-dilutive $100,000 cash award from the fund, as well as hands-on support and mentorship from Google employees.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider »
🙏 MSI is sponsored by Eaton Peabody, a Maine law firm with particular expertise in structuring startup investment transactions—from early seed investment, friends/family and angel investors, through later stage venture capital funding. Meet Katie Porter, a member of the team:
Roux Institute names five startups to its next Founder Residency cohort
The Roux Institute has selected five companies for its next Founder Residency program, which supports first-time founders and founders from under-represented groups with high-impact, high-growth business ideas. The companies are developing solutions in the areas of food tech, fintech, health tech, e-commerce, and literacy tech.
Sangeeth Pradeep Kumar, co-founder and CEO of JotLogs
Evelyn Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Meru
Tamika Francis, co-founder and CEO of DutchPot
Michael Gizachew, founder and CEO of EthioPay
Michelle DeBlois, co-founder and CEO of ReMo
ReMo, an edtech app that helps teachers and students manage their independent learning process, is the Maine-based company in the cohort.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider »
Attenex pivots, rebrands as Popsixle
Attenex, a startup that moved to Portland after graduating from the Roux Institute Techstars Accelerator’s inaugural class, has pivoted away from its original DIY market research product and is instead going all in on a marketing technology product that is showing early signs of traction.
“We came to realize that market research was a good-for-you vitamin, but the real pain-killer solution needed in the market was a way to fix Facebook/Instagram ad performance,” said Noah King, founder and CEO.
It just so happened that Attenex had developed an internal tool that showed potential to address this headache that brands have been facing. So King and his team turned the internal tool into an external product named Popsixle, a 2nd-gen pixel that helps brands improve their Facebook and Instagram ad performance. The company is undergoing a full rebrand to Popsixle.
In the pilots Popsixle has run, customers have already seen their return-on-ad-spend go up between 20% and 100%, according to King.
BluShift Aerospace picks rocket-launch site, wins pitch competition
Brunswick-based bluShift Aerospace, one of only a few companies in the world that has developed and launched a commercial rocket, won Dirigo Labs’ inaugural pitch contest, taking home a $25,000 prize sponsored by Skowhegan Savings Bank.
The pitch contest was the culmination of Dirigo Labs’ inaugural 12-week startup accelerator in Waterville.
bluShift, which is reducing the environmental impact of the space industry by building bio-fuel-powered hybrid rockets, also recently announced that it picked Steuben, Maine, as the location for its future commercial rocket launches, mission control, and manufacturing facility.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider »
Tanbark takes home 2022 LaunchPad top prize, $50K grant
Tanbark Molded Fiber Products, a Portland-based company that wants to replace single-use plastic packaging with a sustainable option, won the 2022 LaunchPad business pitch competition and its $50,000 first-place cash prize.
The company, which recently raised a $1.7 million seed round, was chosen from among five finalists who pitched at the event held last month at Innovation Hall on UNE’s Portland Campus.
The pitch event, hosted by Gorham Savings Bank, also included an Emerging Business category. Portland-based African language learning app NKENNE won that award, along with a $10,000 grant and $10,000 worth of in-kind marketing, business development, and public relations services.
Read more at Maine Startups Insider »
OpBox, Real Time Reality crowned on Greenlight Maine
OpBox, a Nobleboro-based business that builds modular, eco-friendly pop-up spaces for retail and other uses, won Season 7 of Greenlight Maine, a business pitch TV show that airs on Maine Public. OpBox received a $25,000 first-place prize. Second- and third-place prizes this season went to the Good Crust, a maker of frozen pizza dough, and NKENNE, an African language learning app, respectively. Real Time Reality, a blockchain startup founded by a University of Maine student, won the college edition and its $10,000 prize.
/ Briefly Mentioned
🐣 Biddeford-based Prapela Inc. is seeking FDA approval for its high-tech bassinet mattress that's designed to help treat newborns with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome.
🌊 Running Tide, a Portland-based startup that’s creating kelp forests for the purpose of capturing carbon and selling the credits, was included in an Inc. magazine’s article titled: “7 Green Tech Startups With the Innovations—and the Funding—to Help Save the Planet.” I reported in September 2020 that Running Tide had raised more than $11 million from investors including Chris Sacca, Shopify’s Sustainability Fund, Pathbreaker Ventures, and Yes VC.
👨💼 Focus Maine named Dana O'Brien, a biotech advocacy vet, as its new president.
🏆 Mainebiz published a special Startup Hub edition that includes several articles, from an overview of the fundraising options available to founders to a Q&A with several Maine entrepreneurs about their experiences with pitch competitions.
🙏 MSI is sponsored by Gorham Savings Bank, which recently hosted its ninth annual LaunchPad small business pitch competition. If you missed it, you can watch the recording.
/ ICYMI
Here are some recent articles from Maine Startups Insider you may have missed:
Finsulate, a cleantech startup, wins 2022 Top Gun pitch event
LaunchPad names 2022 finalists who will compete for $50K prize
Friday, the startup building software for remote teams, shuts down
REDD, a VC-backed Maine energy bar company, acquired by Connecticut firm
Maine Venture Fund to invest up to $750K in startups at the Roux Institute Techstars Accelerator
If you value this source of original Maine startup news, please consider supporting Maine Startups Insider with a monthly pledge on Patreon.
If Patreon isn't your thing, consider making a single annually recurring contribution of $60 or $120.
/ Jobs
If you apply for a job you see here, let them know you saw the opportunity in Maine Startups Insider.
+ The Roux Institute at Northeastern University is hiring a director for its new Future of Healthcare Founder Residency program.
+ Two Sigma Impact, a “financial sciences” company with offices in New York and Portland, is hiring a Data Analytics Associate.
+ MedRhythms, a Portland-based digital therapeutics startup, is hiring for several positions, including a VP of Engineering and a Senior Full Stack Engineer.
+ Generated Health is hiring an account manager.
+ Constant, a Portland-based fintech SaaS startup, is hiring a full-stack developer and a junior QA engineer.
+ HighByte, an industrial software startup, is hiring an Account Executive.
+ Pumpspotting, a femtech startup in Kittery, is hiring a product manager.
+ ElleVet Sciences, which sells CBD products for pets, is hiring for several roles.
+ EnergyCircle, a digital marketing and lead-gen agency in Portland, is seeking a Digital Marketing Account Manager.
+ CourseStorm, an Orono-based EdTech startup, is hiring a Software Engineer and a Software Engineering Manager, among other positions.
+ Defendify, a cybersecurity startup in Portland, is hiring a SaaS Product Manager and a SaaS Software Engineer.
+ Theory and Principle, a legal-tech product design and development startup in Portland, is hiring a Client Executive.
+ VETRO Inc., a SaaS company in Portland, is looking for a Senior Software Engineer, a Director of Platform Engineering, and a Senior Accountant, among other roles.
+ Guideline, the fintech company with offices in California, Texas, and Portland, is hiring for several software engineering positions.
+ AskGMS, a Portland-based company that provides benchmarking and data analysis tools to the insurance industry, is hiring a full-stack developer.
+ Arkatechture, a Portland-based company that provides business intelligence and data analytics services, is hiring for a host of positions.
Seeking a full-stack engineer? A technical co-founder? A sales or biz dev superstar? Send me your job postings to make this a great resource!
/ Calendar
Roux Institute’s Founder Residency July Cohort Kickoff
Wed., July 20, 5:30-7:30 p.m. — Roux Institute in Portland
The Roux Institute hosts an event where it’ll introduce its newest cohort of high-growth startups selected for the July Cohort of the 2022 First Time Founder Residency—designed to support first-time founders and founders from underrepresented groups with high-growth ideas that have the potential to fundamentally alter the way we live and work. RSVP.
Maine Blockchain Meetup
Wed., Aug. 3, 5-7 p.m. — Cloudport CoWorking in Portland
Join us for this monthly meetup of folks interested in all things blockchain-related, whether crypto, NFTs, web3, P2E gaming, etc. MSI is co-hosting this event. RSVP here.
Maine Start Summit: Blue Tech
Sept. 16-18 — Roux Institute in Portland
The second Maine Start Summit focuses on Blue Tech, which includes a broad spectrum of industries and innovative technologies focused on promoting sustainable ocean activities. Over the course of three days, participants will form teams, develop a unique idea, and learn how to build and pitch a successful business. Cash prizes will be awarded to the first and second place teams (for both a Blue Tech track as well as a general open track). For more info and to register.
Please send me your event or calendar item for possible inclusion.