From canned fish to seaweed-based crop twine, 12 startups chosen for the next cohort of the Dirigo Labs business accelerator program in Waterville represent a range of emerging sectors.
Participants include Topsham-based Maine Canned Fish, the first new seafood cannery in Maine in more than 50 years featured in a 2025 Mainebiz cover story, and Viable Gear, a Portland-based company gearing up for its first product launch.
Now in its fifth year, the accelerator is a 16-week program aimed at helping companies with early traction and growth potential reach the next level. Dirigo Labs is a program of the Central Maine Growth Council.
“When Dirigo Labs was founded five years ago, the idea of a cohort spanning hydroelectric generation, AI platforms, bio-based materials and modular housing might have felt aspirational. Today, it’s simply the state of innovation in Maine,” said Jeff Frank, program manager for Dirigo Labs.
“In this cohort, we are seeing a level of technical maturity that is highly encouraging,” he added. “Many of these founders have decades of expertise in their respective fields, and they’re choosing to invest that experience right here in central Maine.”
This year’s program will start with a focus on financial foundations and wrap up with participants refining their strategy, vision, products and long-term goals. The final event is a pitch competition scheduled for May 27 in Waterville.
“What makes this year exceptional is the sheer breadth of our community, with 33 companies engaging with Dirigo Labs this quarter alone,” said Garvan Donegan, president and CEO of the Central Maine Growth Council.
“We are now supporting our largest and most diverse portfolio of founders to date — a group that is not only attracting significant capital and growing new jobs across Maine but also deploying new exports to be sold and traded in the global economy,” he added.
2026 cohort members
- Maine Canned Fish
- Savvyn Ai
- Springtide Innovations
- Sparklebuck Tea
- Next Marine Solutions
- SBD Technologies
- eQuenced
- Propagate Form
- Latis Materials
- Osage Learning
- Dooryard
- Viable Gear
