Techstars co announces move to Maine, MaineHealth invests $500K in Roux's healthtech program, and more...
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🌞 Good morning! Hope everyone has enjoyed a pleasant holiday season.
This is the 264th edition of Maine Startups Insider and the final one for 2022. Because of the holiday break, I’ll make today’s intro short. But will aim to do a recap of the year in January.
-Whit
/ News
Techstars founders impress at Demo Day, CICLA announces move to Maine
The Roux Institute Techstars Accelerator hosted its second Demo Day on Dec. 15.
Founders of the 10 startups who spent the past 13 weeks building their companies in Portland pitched on stage before a packed house at Ocean Gateway in Portland.
The pitches were all solid and there was barely a stumble by any of the founders as they told the crowd about their founder journeys, what problems their companies are addressing, and the kind of traction they’ve experienced. (Pictured above is Colette Johnson, founder/CEO of The PS Collective.)
Two of the companies, Hey Freya and Torque, are based in Maine. Both Mainebiz and News Center Maine covered the event.
For more about each company, check out the accelerator’s Lookbook, You can watch the full Demo Day recording here.
CICLA relocating to Maine
While on stage, Rogers Escalup, founder of CICLA, announced that he would relocate his business to Maine.
The company specializes in developing new composite materials. Before entering the accelerator, it was focused on a number of applications, including 3D printing and recycled plastics, but decided while working out of the Roux to focus all its efforts on providing e-waste management services to hardware companies. The company has developed a special formula that improves the properties of recycled plastics, making them as good as virgin plastic.
While it has an existing business that will remain in Chile, the Maine-based business will focus on e-waste management. It has a pilot project with HP lined up to begin in early 2023 that will allow it to make a product out of 100% recycled plastic from old HP laptops, computers, printers and toners.
Escalup, though, is not new to Maine. He first came here in 2017 as an undergraduate student, studying composites at UMaine’s Advanced Structures & Composites Center. He founded CICLA in 2019.
(If you remember, there was another Chilean company, Eskuad, in the accelerator’s inaugural cohort. That’s not a coincidence. Escalup and Max Echeverria, Eskuad’s founder, went to school together in Concepción, Chile.)
Escalup told Maine Startups Insider he plans to move to Maine as soon as possible, which will likely take six to nine months depending on the visa process. CICLA has a tech collaboration with UMaine’s composites center and will collaborate on ongoing improvements to its materials and processes.
“We are very excited because we know they are the best in those fields,” Escalup told MSI.
CICLA currently has four full-time employees and plans to hire two more in Maine to assist with lab work and the technical part of the business.
🙏 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 Jeff Joyce, a member of the team.
MaineHealth invests $500K in health-tech program at the Roux Institute
MaineHealth, the largest healthcare system in the state, is investing $500,000 in a new healthcare-innovation program at the Roux Institute at Northeastern University, according to a news release.
The Roux’s Future of Healthcare Founder Residency is expected to bring 30 early-stage, health-tech companies to Maine over the next three years, providing them with funds, expert advice, and clinical environments to test their ideas.
Northern Light Health, Maine’s second largest healthcare system, is also a partner in the Roux program, but it wasn’t immediately clear if it is also making a financial investment in the program.
During the year-long residency program, founders will work out of the Roux’s space in Portland and have direct access to Northern Light Health and MaineHealth clinicians for mentorship, subject-matter expertise, and to serve as testing grounds for their technologies.
Selected companies are expected to accept a $50,000 investment in return for 5% equity in the business, according to the Roux’s website. That would value the businesses being accepted into the program at $1 million. Because of vacation schedules, it also wasn’t immediately clear if it is MaineHealth or the Roux Institute that would retain equity in these companies.
“Innovation is a core value for MaineHealth and key to supporting our vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America,” Susan Ahern, VP of Innovation at MaineHealth, said in a statement. “We are excited to support those looking for tomorrow’s novel solutions to complex problems our care team faces every day.”
Applications for the program closed at the end of November. The program is scheduled to welcome its first cohort in March 2023.
Dirigo Labs names second accelerator cohort
Dirigo Labs, a startup accelerator in Waterville, this week announced the 12 companies selected for its second annual accelerator cohort, which will begin in January.
The 12-week program includes in-person and virtual sessions and is tailored to meet the unique needs of startups.
"This group of companies truly represent the diversity of Maine's startup landscape, and we're thrilled that two are attractions to the state from New York and Massachusetts respectively," Susan Ruhlin, Dirigo Labs’ managing director, said in a statement.
Participating companies include ReMo, an edtech app founded by a former teacher at Lewiston Middle School, and SledTRX, a statewide snowmobile map app founded by a student at Thomas College. For a full list of the selected companies, check out Dirigo Labs’ announcement.
Mainebiz and News Center Maine also covered the news.
/ Briefly Mentioned
🐟 “Maine startup hopes trawler cams help save world’s dwindling fish stocks” — article from the Associated Press about Portland-based New England Maritime Monitoring.
💸 There are an increasing number of pitch contests held each year, a few of which come with substantial monetary awards. Mainebiz covers some of the local companies that have benefited from pitch contests and their grant funding, including North Spore, HighByte, NKENNE, Prapela, and bluShift Aerospace. Read more.
🚀 Colby College’s alumni magazine profiled Jeremy Barron, who Dirigo Labs back in October named as the accelerator’s new Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Barron, a Colby alum, was the founder of 3PlayMedia, a Boston-based startup, and also served as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Colby.
/ ICYMI
Healthcare startups take home top prizes at Maine Startup Challenge
Finetune, a Maine Venture Fund portfolio company, is acquired
/ Jobs
If you apply for a job you see here, let them know you saw the opportunity in Maine Startups Insider.
+ Theory and Principle, a legal-tech product design and development startup in Portland, is hiring a Software Project Manager and a Product Manager.
+ KinoTek, a Portland-based digital health startup, is hiring a business development rep.
+ Nearpeer, a Portland-based edtech startup that aims to improve student retention and graduation, is hiring a Director of Marketing and a Sales Director.
+ The Roux Institute at Northeastern University is hiring a Director of its new Future of Healthcare Founder Residency program.
+ MedRhythms, a Portland-based digital therapeutics startup, is hiring for several engineering positions, including a Senior Audio Software Engineer, Senior Backend Engineer, Frontend Engineer, and a React Native Developer.
+ 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 and a Sales Development Rep.
+ ElleVet Sciences, which sells CBD products for pets, is hiring for several roles.
+ Defendify, a cybersecurity startup in Portland, is hiring a Senior Software Engineer.
+ VETRO Inc., a SaaS company in Portland, is looking for a Director of HR and a Senior Software Engineer, among other roles.
+ Guideline, the fintech company with offices in California, Texas, and Portland, is hiring a Senior Product Designer and a Full-Stack Software Engineer.
+ 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 an Account Executive.
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!