Newark, NJ (April 30, 2019) - Newark Venture Partners (NVP), a leading early-stage venture fund, today announced the startups selected for its Spring 2019 NVP Labs accelerator program include Augmented Review, EVO, PeduL, Riskcast, Sensor Transport, SIRL, Talentwall, Time Study, and Vectorly. This class of 9 Seed and Series A companies is one of the largest classes in the programs history. The selected companies were chosen from a pool of over 2,000 companies.
“I’m thrilled about the quality of companies joining the spring class as NVP continues to make amazing progress to spawn the next Audibles in Newark that will create jobs and taxable revenue for the city,” said Don Katz, Audible founder and CEO, and the founder of NVP. “These early-stage companies will have access to the incredible domain expertise of Audible employees and our corporate partners, and they’ll discover — as Audible did in moving here in 2007 — that Newark is a frontier for innovation and growth.”
This class raises the number of companies in NVP’s portfolio from 55 to 64. To date, 31 of those companies maintain an operational presence in Newark. As of October, 67 percent of the program’s alumni startups have raised follow on capital.
“With each cohort we are seeing increased interest not only in the NVP Labs program but in the City of Newark - and that shows a much deeper kind of traction, ” said Tom Wisniewski, Managing Partner at Newark Venture Partners. “The NVP Labs program isn’t just growing B2B tech startups, it growing an ecosystem where all kinds of startups can thrive. That opens a world of possibilities for the Newark community.”
Selected companies are:
“This cohort was selected from our biggest pool of applicants yet, and it’s raising the bar for startups in Newark. Having our corporate partners engaged with us from the selection process, through mentoring, and often pilots, gives our companies market validation that is really valuable as they get to scale,” said Dan Borok, Managing Partner at Newark Venture Partners. “The best founders want to be where the best resources are - and you cannot find better than Newark’s corporate community.”
Admission to the program includes an initial investment of $120,000, space within NVP’s coworking offices, housed in the same building as Audible and Rutgers Business School, as well as guidance from an in house growth team and robust mentorship network. The fund’s corporate partners, Audible (an Amazon Company), Dun & Bradstreet, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Prudential Financial, RWJBarnabas, TD Bank through the TD Charitable Foundation, Fidelco Realty Group, and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority are especially engaged with NVP Labs companies, providing market-based insight, technology assistance, and high level networking opportunities. At the close of the 12-week program, NVP guarantees a minimum additional $100,000 follow on funding to participants in their next fundraising round, and potential to receive up to $1 million from its direct funding arm.
This cohort will have access to an expanded Growth Team. In addition to the program’s full time Growth Director, Sales Advisor and its team of subject matter experts, the fund recently hired Seam Simons, an Essex County native to manage a team of entry level sales development reps (SDRs) to assist in outbound prospecting. The group of four students are studying subjects including International Business and Finance at Rutgers Newark, Rutgers New Brunswick and Montclair State University.
“Our in house growth team and go-to-market strategists are part of what makes NVP unique. Adding some fresh, eager talent to the mix is a great way to boost that support for our founding teams, and it’s the kind of learning experience that can really fast track the start of a career,” said Allison Williams, Director of NVP Labs. “By the end of this program, we expect to see significant growth within each company, and in our capacity to support the next class of startups.”
“The NVP team and its portfolio of companies are key drivers of the outside-in thinking that is helping to propel innovation at Prudential. We are proud to partner with them as limited partners, helping to develop enterprise-ready solutions while enjoying access to a portfolio of world-class talent.” said Dele Oladapo, Chief Technology Architect and Innovation Officer, Prudential Financial.
The program aims to guide the companies to achieve in-depth strategic plans and scalable marketing and sales operations. The NVP mission is to help innovative entrepreneurs build distinctive B2B tech companies while catalyzing the technology ecosystem in the City of Newark. This is the sixth time NVP has run the accelerator program since its inception in 2014.
Newark Venture Partners was founded by Don Katz, Audible founder and CEO, to grow Newark as a hub for east coast technology and recast the city as a pioneering innovation zone and ultra-bandwidth tech center. With billions of dollars earmarked for construction projects, affordable housing, new retail development, and 21st century work spaces, Newark’s community of entrepreneurs and young talent is growing, as they look to reach New York City’s resources without its legendary cost of living and doing business.
About Newark Venture Partners
Newark Venture Partners is a leading early stage venture capital firm with a Limited Partner base that includes top corporate investors Audible (an Amazon Company), Dun & Bradstreet, Fidelco Realty Group, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Prudential Financial, RWJBarnabas, TD Bank, and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. We help innovative entrepreneurs build distinctive B2B tech companies while catalyzing the technology ecosystem in the City of Newark. Newark Venture Partners includes a direct investment arm, investing up to $1 million in Seed and Series A companies, and our bridge-to-seed accelerator arm, NVP Labs, which invests in up to 10 companies twice a year. For more information visit Newark.VC