SixThirty might not invest in as many companies as other accelerators, but that’s because they give each of their selected startups a $100,000 investment. And it’s not like there are only a few people applying for the young, but powerful, accelerator either: this year close to 100 applications for the Spring 2015 class came in.
To date they’ve made 18 investments in 15 different companies, 11 of which are located outside of St. Louis and two of which are international startups. They also opt for later seed-stage fintech startups with working products.
In exchange for the $100,000 investment, each company exchanges a negotiated percentage of equity, usually between three and ten percent. And three of the six companies in this class also participated in the Fall 2014 cohort.
Selected participants will receive hands on training, mentoring, and networking opportunities with the top financial services companies in the region. The cohort will run from April 14 to July 16 and will be housed in the T-REx incubator space in downtown St. Louis. Companies will have a direct pipeline to follow-on funding, as well as opportunities to pitch to business leaders and potential clients.
SixThirty’s Spring 2015 class is:
- Bandura, St. Louis, MO: Bandura is a revenue-producing cyber security software company delivering automated IP threat intelligence technologies to stop network cyber attacks and data leakage for Financial Services, Healthcare, Energy, Government.
- DAVO Technologies, Portland, ME: DAVO Technologies has a patented process that automatically collects, files, and pays sales tax for brick and mortar merchants.
- FinLocker, St. Louis, MO: FinLocker is a consumer-enabled financial locker, which reduces costs and risks for lenders via actionable financial information throughout the entire loan lifecycle.
- New Constructs, Nashville, TN: Stock, ETF, and mutual fund research based on uniquely thorough review of SEC filings, especially footnotes. New Constructs does the homework their clients do not have time to do.
- Public Funds Investment Tracking and Reporting (PFITR), St. Louis, MO: Investment accounting, analytics, and treasury management on fixed income portfolios. PFITR provides the technology for internal controls for compliance and transparency.
- Rippleshot, Chicago, IL: Rippleshot detects payment card data breaches, usually long before credit card issuers or merchants have any idea of the breach occurring.
Image Credit: SixThirty / Mentor session at their accelerator