It’s hard to believe StartX is already on its 8th demo day; I remember attending the first one back in the pioneer days of 2010. Since then, the startup accelerator for Stanford students and other affiliates has supported more than 250 entrepreneurs, and four of the more than 100 companies it has spawned have already been acquired. (The rest have racked up more than $100 million in angel and venture backing.)
I motored down to AOL West in Palo Alto to attend the latest demo day last Thursday. In the slide show above, you’ll find summary descriptions of the 10 companies graduating this spring. (The photos were taken by veteran photojournalist Paul Sakuma and are used by permission of StartX.) For the record, the companies are Pixlee, Distinc.tt, VipeCloud, Insynctive, SpotOn, NuMedii, Meet Mikey, ReadImagine, MyProject.is, and Kidaptive.
StartX shared some news of its own this week, announcing that it has raised $400,000 in new funding, including $100,000 from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. That brings the organization’s total backing to $1.5 million; other supporters include the Kauffman Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, AOL, Greylock Partners, and Founders Fund.
StartX says its mission is “to accelerate the development of the best entrepreneurs through experiential education and collective intelligence.” Unlike most accelerators, the organization does not grant money and does not require an equity stake from participating founders; benefits come in the form of mentorship, on-the-job education, legal services, and office space at AOL’s facility on Page Mill Road in Palo Alto. StartX startups run the gamut from consumer Internet and mobile companies to biotech, healthcare, cleantech, and education.
