Five local startups whose products range from a smart basketball hoop to a fruit box subscription business were selected by gener8tor to participate in gBETA Milwaukee‘s summer 2021 cohort.
The five southeastern Wisconsin companies include Debtle, Flora Fruit Co., huupe, Hydra and Piper Tool Co.
gener8tor’s team will work with each of the five startups on business strategy, overcoming obstacles and preparing to pitch investors during gBeta’s accelerator program.
“These founders demonstrated their hustle, tenacity, coachability and vision through the application and interview process, and have already started meeting milestones in the program,” gBETA Milwaukee director Molly Dill said in a statement.
- Debtle: Debtle developed a cloud-based software that streamlines the negotiation, settlement and payment of overdue customer invoices. Debtle’s solution, which is currently being implemented at health care organizations, enables its clients to capture more in payments while paying less in fees. The startup is led by CEO Stephanie Hoskins.
- Flora Fruit Company: Led by CEO Jalen Greenlee, Flora Fruit Co. offers a subscription service that encourages healthier eating with home fruit delivery. Flora Fruit’s current customers in southeastern Wisconsin receive an assorted fruit box weekly or biweekly. Since launching in 2020, the startup has filled 850 orders and generated more than $22,000 in revenue.
- huupe: Co-founded by CEO Paul Anton, huupe is an at-home fitness company that developed a smart basketball hoop with a screen and a backboard. The huupe system allows players to train like pros, track performance and play against other huupe users right from their driveway. The startup recently raised $280,000 to build its smart hoop and is partnering with an NBA team for its product launch.
- Hydra: Hydra allows users to view massive 3D models in seconds on any device without requiring expensive hardware or specialized knowledge. The startup’s flagship product, Hydra Augmented Documents, improves the ability to immersiviely interact with 3D models at scale. Founded by Anupam Das, Hydra has successfully prototyped and proven out its core technology and is working with leading construction firms and defense contractors for beta testing.
- Piper Tool Co.: Led by Amelia Faist, Piper Tool Co. empowers women to fix it themselves with education and hand tools tailored for women. The startup targets women ages 18 to 35 going through life transitions who have a need to increase tool literacy and dependence. Piper Tool has completed more than 20 customer discovery interviews and was awarded first place and $10,000 at the La Macchia New Venture Business Plan Competition in March.
gBETA is a free, seven-week accelerator that works with local startups so they can gain early customer traction for their product or idea. The program also helps startups establish metrics to become competitive applicants for full-time, equity-based accelerators or seed investment.
