File Photo / Tim Greenway
Sascha Deri at bluShift Aerospace
Updated: December 21, 2022
Waterville startup accelerator Dirigo Labs picks next cohort
File photo / Sabrina Jandreau
Dirigo Labs is based at the Hathaway Creative Center in downtown Waterville.
Dirigo Labs 2023 cohort
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- Against the Grain
- Black Travel Maine
- Croft
- FarmDrop
- Gel Hydration Technologies
- Home Grown Fuels
- I-Tell Alert
- Move Free
- ReMo
- Real Time Reality
- SledTRX
- Tardigrade Industries
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From an online network of farmers markets to an interactive snowmobile app called SledTRX, 12 startups have been selected to participate in the next session of Dirigo Labs' accelerator program in Waterville.
Dirigo Labs, located at the Hathaway Creative Center in downtown Waterville, announced its second cohort on Tuesday for a 12-week program scheduled to start in January.
The program combines in-person and virtual sessions, for a group chosen based on founder experience, stage of development, scalability and potential for funded research and development projects.
"This group of companies truly represent the diversity of Maine's startup landscape, and we're thrilled that two are attractions to the state from New York and Massachusetts respectively," said Susan Ruhlin, managing director of Dirigo Labs.
Dirigo Labs provides founders with a temporary board of advisors pulled from a growing pool of mentors.
Tuesday's announcement comes two months after Dirigo Labs hired Jeremy Barron as its first entrepreneur-in-residence to work with the incoming cohort.
Barron's duties will include coaching the entrepreneurs for the duration of the three-month accelerator, Ruhlin told Mainebiz in October.
Brunswick-based rocket company bluShift Aerospace, a member of the inaugural cohort this year, won Dirigo Labs' inaugural pitch event in June, for which it received $25,000 in prize money and a year's membership at the Bricks Coworking & Innovation Space in Waterville.
Sascha Deri, bluShift’s founder and CEO, told Mainebiz last month that while while he was at first hesitant about participating because of the time commitment, he is now glad that he did.
“I went from doubting its usefulness to ‘Oh wow, this is incredible, this is really helpful,’” he said. Through Dirigo Labs' large mentor network, for example, bluShift was able to connect with people “with specific knowledge of our pain points to give us advice," he said. "It was spot on.”
Dirigo Labs operates under Central Maine Growth Council and is supported by several organizations, academic institutions and investment firms.
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