A New Chapter in Newark’s History: 8 Tech Startups Highlight City’s Potential as East Coast Innovation Hub
Newark, NJ (January 15, 2019) – Newark Venture Partners celebrated the completion of its 5th-ever NVP Labs cohort at “Demo Day,” at the Newark Museum with a crowd of nearly 400 investors, founders, and community stakeholders. The event featured presentations from the founding teams of all eight companies that completed the 3-month bridge-to-seed program: Ejenta, Exempt Me Now, Floss Bar, RankMiner, StackSource, Upsider, Talentegy and Team Mobot. Together, the cohort represents the industries of HRTech, Voice, Consumerization of Healthcare, HealthTech, Robotics and FinTech, with founders joining the Newark community from across the northeast, as well as North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and California.
For play-by-play of the event including photos, visit our twitter page @NewarkVC
“NVP is part of a larger ecosystem that’s contributing to Newark’s turnaround,” said Don Katz, Audible founder and CEO, and the founder of NVP. “These startups have had access to the incredible domain expertise of Audible employees and our corporate partners, and I’m excited to see how this class of amazing companies contributes to our efforts to tether Newark to the elements of the economy that are creating jobs and taxable revenue and validates the profound business case for this city.”
As Newark’s reputation as a hub for east coast technology grows, NVP, its corporate partners and its community of founders are leading the charge to recast the city as home for innovators. For the first time Demo Day was held in the historic Newark Museum, celebrating Newark’s return to its roots as center of invention and the startups that hope to write its next chapter.
“This was a cohort of game-changing tech and allstar founders. We are proud to have put our stamp on these startups and look forward to helping each of them continue to grow and disrupt how the world does business – starting right here in Newark, New Jersey,” said Tom Wisniewski, Managing Partner at Newark Venture Partners.
This cohort marked a year of growth for the NVP Labs program. The 3-month bridge-to-seed accelerator program targets B2B tech companies with proven market traction looking to raise an institution seed round. It is now responsible for investments in 43 different startups, 70 percent of which have gone on to raise an institutions seed round. NVP’s complete portfolio, including its direct investment arm, totals 55 companies, 31 of which maintain a presence within NVP’s Newark coworking space. Cumulatively they have raised over $200M in capital.
“We select our founders based on pain points that our corporate partners identify within their own markets,” said Dan Borok, Managing Partner at Newark Venture Partners. “Once they complete the program, we get to to see their solutions reshape industries and reimagine how everyday operations can or should be done.”
NVP Labs invests an initial $120,000, with an additional $100,000 at the close of the program, and potential investment from NVP’s direct investment arm of up to $1 million in subsequent funding rounds. Companies also get space within NVP’s coworking offices housed in the same building as Audible and Rutgers Business School, as well as guidance from a robust mentorship and growth team. 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 also regularly interact with NVP Labs companies, providing market-based insight, technology assistance, and high level networking opportunities.
“NVP Labs has been invaluable to Team Mobot’s growth. Because every company is different, rather than simply providing advice, NVP Labs provided 1-on-1 resources for each company around sales, marketing, design, finance and more. As a newer company, this was exactly what we needed,” said Eden Full Goh, Founder and CEO of Team Mobot.
The selected companies were chosen from a pool of over 1,800 companies, more than 3 times the number of applicants for past cohorts. Notably, this cohort includes 6 female founders or co-founders, 4 of which are also the company’s CEO.
The graduating companies are:
The event included presentations from Colin Newman Vice President of Public Policy at Audible; Joe Scott, Executive Vice President, Office of Health Care Transformation at RWJ Barnabas Health; and Dele Oladapo, Chief Technology Architect and Innovation Officer, Prudential Financial, all part of the NVP network of corporate partners. The event had more than 450 RSVPs, including top east coast investors, founders from across the country, and decision makers from corporate players in New York/New Jersey region.
NVP Labs is now accepting applications for its Spring 2019 program.
Subscribe to our newsletter to be informed whenever we publish something new!
Subscribe Today