Last week, the Roxbury Innovation Center, which falls under the organizational umbrella of Venture Café New England, held its first virtual pitch night.
Designed as an opportunity for entrepreneurs in Roxbury and Greater Boston to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges—and potentially win prize funding—Roxbury Pitch Night ultimately gave 10 founders the opportunity to present. Ideas ranged from an edtech platform for aspiring college students to specially designed underwear that reduces heat rash.
Coming in first place was CauseEDU, an edtech and budgeting assistance platform for aspiring college students and their families. Close behind were runner-up Isle de Nature, a home fragrance startup, and third-place winner Hudson Hives, a family-run honeybee farm that also helps backyard beekeepers set up. An award was also designated for the audience favorite: Jayb LLC, which designs functional, business-appropriate women's jackets.
Since its inception in 2015, the Roxbury Innovation Center has supported an ever-increasing number of entrepreneurs. By June 4, 56 entrepreneurs had applied to present at this year’s Roxbury Innovation Center Pitch Night, a 40 percent increase from the usual number, Venture Café New England president Daniel Enríquez Vidaña told BostInno at the time.
“We’ve seen an increase in people wanting to participate in that process, which then leads them to have more of an interest in other programs we’re offering,” Enríquez Vidaña said. “Let’s get you the right set of resources and connections to help you get traction.”
Read about the startups below.
CauseEDU: CauseEDU, led by Shironda A. White, provides tailored programs for organizations, companies and schools to help their families with their college funding needs. The startup also offers one-on-one consultations for families, as well as the "CauseEDU Financial Academy," an online platform that helps families understand and budget for college. And for any students that need to turn to outside funding, CauseEDU has a crowdfunding platform.
Isle de Nature: Led by Veronica Armstrong, Isle de Nature offers a line of home fragrance products starting with candles made from beeswax and soy. Armstrong is driven by the belief that "unspoiled nature is a luxury" as climate change threatens the islands she draws inspiration from. Isle de Nature's signature fragrance, Pagua Bay, is inspired by the bay leaves indigenous to Dominica.
Hudson Hives: Hudson Hives is a small, family-run honeybee farm in Hudson, Mass., where beekeeper Stephen Burney and herbalist Jennifer Burney raise the bees using entirely sustainable beekeeping practices. The duo also gets backyard beekeepers set up with their own hives so they can collect pollen and nectar of their choice.
Jayb LLC: Jayb, which is also the Urdu word for "pocket," designs functional, business-appropriate jackets for women. Led by Batool Raza, Jayb currently has two products available for pre-order: the Single Button Notch Jayb and the Boyfriend Jayb.
Golific / GoDeep: Golific, headed up by Regi Maxi, has designed functional underwear designed to help regulate the wearer's body temperature as he exercises. The startup's "Dual-Climate" technology is deployed in all of its undergarments, intended to reduce the effect of skin-borne bacteria and block odors, as well as limit the possibility of heat rash.
The Online Substitute Teacher: Founder Ana Minerva Fonseca is a veteran of the education world; now, she's plunging into edtech with the aptly named Online Substitute Teacher. Over the last decade, Fonseca has taught at public schools in Brockton, Brookline and Boston.
RKCommunity: Led by Richard Cadet, RKCommunity is an e-commerce platform that allows users to rent items like chairs, canopies, bar sets and DJ sets for events. Items are priced by rental time; outdoor games, for example, rent out for $15 a day, and outdoor speakers rent out for $50 a day.
Activly: Activly is a "workout-sharing" app run by a team based in Wellesley Hills. Through the app, users can create, customize, share and find workouts—an experience designed to be lower-stress and more accessible than a traditional gym. "We want everyone to be able to exercise their bodies, no matter their demographics or experience with the gym," founders Anna Bilha and Sarah Tarta write on the app's website.
EllisX: Headed up by Leia Ruseva, EllisX is behind a “visibility-as-a-service” platform designed to help early-stage startups connect with media and event organizers. EllisX aims to directly address the primary reasons founders find it difficult to get exposure: limited funding and access. EllisX also recently began giving away three visibility opportunities to any startup with a founder of African descent so they can share their story with a broader audience and fast-track their companies.
Boston Outdoor Preschool Network: The Boston Outdoor Preschool Network (BOPN) is made up of a team of teachers with experience in public, private and Montessori schools. Now, they're taking the preschool experience outside, using an inquiry-based approach to combine early childhood and environmental education. BOPN currently offers half-day and full-day preschool, full-day toddler programs, summer programs and homeschooling.
You can also watch the videos from Roxbury Pitch Night below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMIJEU3W4zI&list=PLCSzdA1q0XAyZthUQ3kD9b1Z_GHwZ3bUD
