We kickstarted the recruitment for our next cohort just before the pandemic made its way into Hawaii and going into full force across the world. Our original plans and timelines were cast into disarray but after all the uncertainty over the past couple of months, we are so excited to present our new batch of startups – Cohort #12!
In total, we received 494 applications and after rigorous rounds of evaluations, we have accepted 8 awesome companies into the Blue Startups accelerator program and ohana!
Keeping true to our desire to fulfill a selection of United Nation’s Sustainability Goals, we aligned our focus areas for recruitment to these goals through founder profiles and sectors. Additionally, our articles on Medium further explain the approach we take to purposefully create a “global mix” of startups and strive for gender diversity for the cohort.
Here’s a recap on what we looked for during the evaluation of the startups:
Founder Focus:
- Cross-border between Asia and the US (East Meets West)
- Hawaii-based or Hawaii-connected
- Female founded or co-founded
Sector Focus:
- Business-to-business software solutions
- Responsible consumption, carbon reduction and smart cities
- Sustainable tourism
Cohort 12 Company Profiles
3Rwater Inc developed the Follow the Drop mobile application (FtD) to build water security and resiliency. FtD supports water/stormwater utilities and their customers to reduce their stormwater runoff impacts, build resiliency, and save money.
Appsurify helps companies test smarter using its software intelligence platform. Through machine learning, Appsurify enables companies to prioritize their testing processes, leading to faster releases and reducing the cost of test execution.
Energy311 automates the tracking, billing, and payment for electricity usage from renewable sources. Through data collected from e-meters, commercial property owners receive payment from tenants conveniently.
Kind Traveler is the first socially-conscious Give + Get hotel booking platform where travelers unlock exclusive rates/perks from Kind Hotels by donating $10 each night to a vetted charity, in turn positively impacting local communities.
Liquid Presentation is a patented SaaS platform for quadrupling individual representatives’ sales volume in the liquor distribution industry. The company has successfully reduced the sales and brand-building cycle from weeks to minutes.
Leadroommate is a web app that helps homeowners rent to roommates conveniently. Through the app, homeowners can earn extra income while renters who help manage other roommates, enjoy lower rent.
Rendezview provides virtual collaborative workspaces for online meetings, allowing distributed teams to meet and work together as if they’re in the same room.
Usit provides a platform to create virtual after-school clubs for kids that are led by college student counselors from around the world. Kids are kept engaged in live, unique, and small groups.
Read the full cohort 12 announcement here: Blue Startups Cohort 12 Announcement
