PledgeCents is going back to school. The Houston-based education crowdfunding site has joined the latest class at the Dallas-based accelerator Tech Wildcatters, which began its three-month program this week.
Two grade-school friends started the site, which aims to connect educational causes with donors beyond a localized geographic area, last August. Right now, the site features a handful of appeals, including one from an elementary school teacher wanting to raise $471 to purchase eight beanbags to create a reading nook in her classroom.
“We want to learn how to accelerate our business as a whole, bring in corporate dollars and help channel their philanthropy to put more funding back into the classrooms,” says Andyshea Saberioon, who co-founded PledgeCents with his friend, Ricky Johnson.
A third of the startups in the new Tech Wildcatters class are already based in Dallas. They will be joined by peers from as far away as Brazil and the United Kingdom. The accelerator says it accepted just 4 percent of applicants this year.
Companies selected for the program include:
Corretores comes out of Brazil and says it’s the country’s largest network for real estate agents.
Guideally, a Toronto startup, is a travel service that connects travelers with what it says are unique trip packages.
Upswing comes to Wildcatters from Durham, North Carolina, and is an online marketplace for tutors that combines data and live coaches to help colleges increase retention.
GruupMeet is a Dallas-based event planning and communication platform for meeting planners to organize airport arrival experiences.
SearchTower is also based in Dallas. It provides users a way to archive and index documents through a comprehensive API and search through them, including archive files and e-mail attachments.
Akros Techlabs extends VPN-like secure access to cloud and mobile environments. It is based in Katy, TX, west of Houston.
Instant API, comes out of the United Kingdom, calls itself the “Wordpress of APIs.”
YourSigma is a San Francisco-based learning platform for online study groups of working professionals.
My Dealer Service gives customers real-time updates on the status of their vehicles via texts or e-mails while they are in for repairs. It is based in Denver.
ICcode, a Dallas startup, enables advertisers to provide additional content to TV audiences.
Yoolod comes to the accelerator from Croatia, and is a software platform that enables users to navigate avatars in a variety of games.
Nexiden has developed a smartphone-based authentication process that eliminates the need for usernames and passwords. It is based in Dallas.
WhichBox Media is also based in Dallas. It provides an online content platform.
