WHAT DREAMS MAY COME: Dreamit, the startup accelerator based in New York and Philadelphia, announced the latest 18 companies for its fall 2016 class. Founded in 2007, the program currently focuses on companies in the health and education sectors. (Fun fact: it partnered with Startl, now defunct, back in 2011 to create the first edtech-focused accelerator.)
The 14-week program, which provides product and customer development support, mentorship and investor connections, began this week. For participating companies, Dreamit receives a $50,000 note from the companies in exchange for going through the program. In addition, the companies have the opportunity to receive up to $500,000 in follow-on funding from the Dreamit Ventures fund.Among the edtech startups are familiar names (some of whom have participated in other incubators and competitions) and several new faces:
- Chalk.com: Developer of tools to help educators create, organize and integrate curriculum into their daily workflows
- Learnmetrics: Dashboard that aggregate and analyzes instructional and operational data in an actionable manner, aligned to school and district goals (also participated in 1871 and Socratic Labs)
- MPOWER Financing: Platform that helps international students find loans to attend U.S. colleges (1st place in Village Capital’s 2015 edtech competition)
- PenPal Schools: Connects classrooms around the world for six-week online exchanges where teachers and students learn about new languages and cultures (Winner of Dell World 2014 Pitch Slam)
- PikMyKid: Helps school administrators and parents manage the traffic chaos involved in picking students up after school
- t3 interactive: A “Rosetta Stone for communication skills” that uses sensors to provide feedback on nonverbal speaking and presentation skills
- Wrainbo: Mobile game to help learners build business analytics skills
