EAST LANSING —Five technology startups have been selected by Conquer Accelerator to participate in an innovative summer program that emphasizes smart planning and growth, extensive mentorship, and structured educational components.

Designed to help both newer and established companies overcome business hurdles, the Conquer Accelerator The accelerator program is hosted and managed by Spartan Innovations, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Michigan State University Foundation.

“The Conquer Accelerator acts as a final launching platform for startups from MSU and beyond, preparing companies to hit the ground running,” says Paul Jaques, program director. “Our program puts the finishing touches on startup teams and prepares them for investment and growth.”

The program’s five teams will work through an intensive ten-week program, starting June 2018. In addition to $20,000 in seed funding, each startup receives tailored mentorship, a creative working space, as well as access to networking support and talent resources to enable them to grow their companies. 

The five Michigan-based startup teams participating in 2018’s cohort are:

  •     Every Two Minutes — tackling campus sexual violence through education, prevention, and resources. Every Two Minutes’ first product, (my)Sidekick, is a next-generation mobile learning platform providing immersive prevention education, skills, and on-demand tools at critical moments to help students combat campus sexual violence.
  •     Hidlo Studios — a digital marketing agency specializing in the creation and management of geofilter campaigns for businesses on the Snapchat platform. Hidlo provides extensive brand research to devise custom-designed, long-term geofilters for maximum brand interaction.
  •     Lingco Language Labs — a modern language-learning platform giving instructors all the tools they need to run successful language courses. In today’s fast-paced world, the Lingco Classroom provides tools for instructors, elevating the language learning experience with adaptive technology. Lingco, helping every student reach fluency.
  •     Smart Staffing — optimizes the matching of in-home caregivers with clients of private-duty healthcare companies. Offering an easy-to-use, map-based software, Smart Staffing makes scheduling efficient while ensuring both client and caregiver connect in positive, meaningful ways.
  •      Vloggle — an innovative, video-sharing social platform taking the medium to the next, most accessible level. With Vloggle, users effortlessly create, edit, share, and play quality videos up to ten minutes long.

Conquer Accelerator’s third season kicks off Monday, June 4. For more information or to follow this year’s ten-week journey, visit www.conqueraccelerator.com.