Creating change in the media world sometimes means connecting with other sectors.
From the start, the Matter accelerator in San Francisco has been about nurturing media startups. Some of the companies in the program’s third class, though, are putting their ideas to work in the education market. Matter held a demo day in New York this week for its latest six graduates.
The teams behind Known and EduCrate (born out of CratePlayer) both entered the program with different plans in mind before finding focus in the classroom. “Known started out very broad, with a publishing platform for everybody, and their technology still has the potential for that,” said Corey Ford, managing partner of Matter.
That idea got tightened up, he said, to create a system for integrating course software from other sources, allowing students to publish their class materials in one place.
Meanwhile EduCrate evolved from creating shareable media playlists to a way for teachers to curate media, and gather educational videos from various sources.
It makes some sense for Matter to bring its startups to New York, media hub that it is. Back in February, the accelerator brought its second class of graduates to town.
Ford said the program looks for entrepreneurs who use digital technology with media to help society be more informed and better connected.
Matter features a smaller class of startups than some other accelerators, but it manages to attract inclusive, diverse teams. In this class, five of six startups had female entrepreneurs on stage for the demos. “We didn’t have to think about it,” Ford said. “It just happened that way.”
