Credit: Justin Knight
Ideas Made to Matter
24 MIT startups to watch
By
A robotic bartender, smart clothing, a fantasy sports app, remote eye exams.
The wide-ranging ideas of this year’s MIT delta v cohort were on display during the Sept. 6 Demo Day in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“Concepts don’t win here, ideas don’t win, it’s impact that wins,” said Bill Aulet, managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.
Friday’s Demo Day was the culmination of delta v’s eighth cohort. Delta v runs through the summer, and takes place at the Trust Center. Seventeen teams were based at the Trust Center, while seven other teams worked out of the New York City cohort. This is the third year for the Manhattan-based accelerator.
The teams get entrepreneurship training, coaching and mentoring, and mock board reviews, as well as funding, office space, and prototyping tools.
“It’s real technology, it’s real customers, it’s real products, it’s real companies, it’s real financials, it’s real entrepreneurs,” Aulet said. “And that’s what we’re about.”
Here are the 24 startups to watch:
Abound Abound is an education app for parents to help them track and promote their children’s reading skills.
Acoustic Wells Acoustic Wells combines sound-based hardware and artificial intelligence to determine the operating conditions and health of oil wells.
Alpaca Alpaca manages a network of Facebook groups that connect landlords and tenants.
Atem Atem is an attachment for asthma/Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease inhalers that pairs with a smartphone app to provide feedback on how the inhaler is used.
auggi auggi is an app that promotes gut health through user feedback and AI-based tools to track information like diet and daily symptoms.
CaroCare CaroCare provides in-person and online support for new parents and babies, including benefits like a lactation consultant visit and daily remote check-ins with a registered nurse.
Easel Easel is an app that connects parents looking for childcare (including last-minute needs) to licensed childcare centers with unused space.
Elemen Elemen is a skincare company that offers clients customized products based on their own skin types and product preferences.
Hardworkers Hardworkers is a social media platform for working-class employees.
Haystack Ag Haystack Ag uses portable sensors to help hemp farmers analyze their plants and soil, as well as weather data, to improve crop quality.
Haystack Health Haystack Health provides a platform to help people with hypothyroidism through at-home blood tests and virtual consults.
inSanirator inSanirator is a sanitation machine designed for congested and highly-populated areas of developing countries.
Live Sports Markets Live Sports Markets is a fantasy sports app that lets friends compete against one another during live games.
Lynx Lynx is an electric scooter rental company that rents scooters for a minimum of 24-hours, delivers scooters to customers, and offers touring packages.
Mantle Biotech Mantle Biotech is a company making low-cost medical tests using a technology based on proteins found in hot spring microbes.
Nextiles Nextiles makes smart clothing that helps wearers learn about how they exercise and improve performance.
Ocular Technologies Ocular Technologies is a company offering remote eye exams using a device that automates a traditional eye exam and sends a video of the exam to a specialist.
Precavida is a Brazilian health care platform that matches uninsured patients with providers.
Quantifai Quantifai is a machine-learning platform that helps B2B software-as-a-service companies manage customers.
Season Three Season Three makes an all-weather boot.
SirMixABot SirMixABot is a robotic bartender designed for home or office use.
Spatio Metrics Spatio Metrics analyzes hospital floorplans to show health care administrators how the spaces impact patient health and safety.
TireTutor TireTutor is an online platform that helps users locate and price tires from local dealers.
Viridis Viridis users an aircraft-mounted camera to provide crop data to small-farmers and the insurance companies providing coverage for them.
Photo: Sonal Singh, MBA ’19, of Spatio Metrics, presents at the 2019 delta v Demo Day.
