Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship has announced 20 startups that have been selected for the Spring 2020 Rock Accelerator.
Each spring, the teams receive financial grants from a pool of $125,000 for the 2019-20 school year. The teams and funding are made in close consultation with the Rock Venture Partners Program, which includes MBA students interested in the venture capital industry.
The program’s focus is on building and validating an MVP that teams can bring to market quickly. The chosen teams receive deep-dive coaching sessions, feedback on their product pitches, and opportunities to pitch for seed funding. The goal is for teams to emerge from the program with a strong foundation for building or expanding a market-ready product.
Sixty-one teams submitted entries this year for consideration. Past participants in the Rock Accelerator include greeting card maker LovePop (lovepopcards.com), personal helpers Hello Alfred (helloalfred.com), and Getaway (getaway.house), which provides escapes to tiny cabins in the woods.
The 20 teams in the 2020 Spring Rock Accelerator are:
ALLSPICE (Kyle Dumont, MBA 2020; Valentina Toll Villagra, MBA 2020)
AllSpice is a git-powered software that enables hardware engineers to automate their development process and collaborate on their designs.
BORROW (Katie Peck, MBA 2020)
Borrow is a rental service for curated boxes of baby clothes. It’s what baby clothes shopping should be—simple, easy, cute.
BREEN TECHNOLOGIES (Mollie Breen, MBA 2020)
Smart security for new and legacy Internet of Things devices connected to critical infrastructure so you get the productivity from IoT, not the vulnerability.
CLOUDSTORE (Cathy Han, MBA 2020)
CloudStore is a new retail distribution platform that connects brands who have product with stores that have space.
FINAUTA (Oscar Gonzalez, MBA 2020)
Finauta is your financial GPS. You tell us where you want to go with your personal finances; we tell you where you are and how to get there.
FOUND (Kait Stephens, MBA 2020; Deeksha Agrawal, MBA 2020; Zack Morrison, MBA 2020; Lena Ye, MBA 2020)
Found is a virtual lost and found solution that uses QR code tags to provide a seamless experience for returning lost items.
GRYPS (Dareen Salama, MBA 2020)
GRYPS is an AI-powered platform that extracts information from construction documents to unlock its value for building owners and operators.
HEIDI (Stan Chang, MBA 2020; Sabreesh Chinta, MBA 2020)
Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are how everyone presents themselves to you; Heidi is how you see everyone else.
JUNE MOTHERHOOD (Tina Beilinson, MBA 2020; Julia Cole, MBA 2020; Sophia Richter, MBA 2020)
June Motherhood is a virtual, group-based doula service with a mission to make high quality doula care more affordable and accessible for women across the country.
KOODOS (Jad Esber, MBA 2020)
Koodos is a music and content curation network built on top of messaging apps.
NOM POT (Zach Keeling, MBA 2020; Neha Mathur, MBA 2020; Kasey Le, MBA 2020; Ed Arthy, MBA 2020)
Nom Pot develops healthy one-pot meals for easy, at-home cooking.
ONRAMP (Ross Lerner, MBA 2020)
Onramp is the customer partnership platform, purpose-built to help B2B SaaS companies provide a world-class onboarding experience to new customers.
JOVA COFFEE COMPANY (Jackson Shuttleworth, MBA 2020; Olivia vonNieda, MBA 2020)
Jova Coffee Company is passionate about building beautiful brewing devices that make the perfect cup of coffee. Every. Single. Time.
SHELFLIFE (Lillian Cartwright, MBA 2020)
For food and beverage manufacturers, ShelfLife makes ordering ingredients simpler while reducing costs.
SI SILK SCARVES (Lily Wang, MBA 2020)
We’re reinventing the silk scarf for the modern woman. Luxury fabrics with contemporary designs to become a timeless staple.
STEEP’T (Alison Nathanson, MBA 2020; Chloe Aucoin, MBA 2020)
Restaurant-caliber cocktails at home, in one easy step.
STRIDE FUNDING (Tess Michaels, MBA 2020)
Pay off your school in five years by guaranteeing a small percent of your income post-graduation! This makes funding flexible and affordable.
THOUSAND DEEP (Carson Lee, MBA 2020)
Thousand Deep designs reflective wear and experiences inspired by the disco ball.
TREQ (Michael Reidler, MBA 2020; Dominic Marrone, MBA 2020)
Software for organizations to manage group travel and events.
VILLAGE (Nicole Ivey, MBA 2020)
Village creates holistic, wholehearted, and inclusive family-care communities for a more kind, creative, and equitable world.
Launched in 2010, the HBS Arthur Rock Center Accelerator is a highly immersive program designed specifically for Harvard Business School student founders of early-stage startups.
The study of entrepreneurship has been a vital part of the Harvard Business School MBA program with a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes the annual New Venture Competition, the Rock Accelerator Program, Rock Summer Fellows, Rock Loan Reduction, and the Rock 100.