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2021 LaunchVT Accelerator Poster

LaunchVT announces 2021 Accelerator Cohort

Eight promising businesses join the latest Accelerator Cohort

LaunchVT has kicked off its ninth Accelerator Cohort. The businesses were chosen from a competitive field based on the quality of their product, market, and founding team. All eight businesses have the potential to scale and create significant economic opportunity in their local communities.

During the ten-week virtual accelerator, entrepreneurs in the LaunchVT cohort will work with a dedicated coach, business experts, and each other to understand their customers, refine their business models, solve their most pressing challenges, and hone their value and message. They will participate in peer sessions, office hours with business advisors, and workshops with domain experts. They will leave the program with a comprehensive go to market strategy, dozens of new connections and thousands of dollars in professional services from our partners. The program will culminate with a Demo Night where the community is invited to watch the cohort pitch their businesses to a panel of judges. Everyone who attends will have the opportunity to cast a vote for the $5,000 Audience Choice Award and the $15,000 VCET Investor’s Award will be decided by a panel of investor judges. 

The startups selected for the 2021 LaunchVT Accelerator Cohort are:

Wylo Biosciences – Shelburne, VT

  • Founders: Ethan Alden-Danforth, PhD
  • DNA-based rapid tick test to assess the risk of most common tick-borne illnesses

AuthorPods – Fairlee, VT

  • Founders: Elizabeth Wilcox, Lucian Snow, Sarah Hall
  • A community marketplace that connects readers with authors to discuss their books

Lost Lantern Spirits – Weybridge, VT

  • Founders: Nora Ganley-Roper, Adam Polanski
  • Independent bottler of single cask and blended American whiskey

GIO Burlington, VT

  • Founders: Cara Bondi, Jenny Kalanges, Marshall McKenzie
  • Sexual wellness gummies with natural ingredients and sex-positive messaging

ShikiWrap – Shelburne, VT

  • Founders: Meagan Downey
  • Recycled plastic derived reusable gift wrap, based on Japanese tradition of furoshiki

Mona – Stowe, VT

  • Founders: Danielle Rabidou, Madison Visco
  • Daily dose on-the-go seed packs for convenient seed cycling and hormone balancing

 

 

Zion Growers – Barnet, VT

  • Founders: Brandon McFarlane, Travis Samuels
  • Locally sourced industrial manufacturer of hemp fiber, hurd and seed

DroneLynk – South Burlington, VT

  • Founder: Tauty Shalna
  • Marketplace and automated mission management for drone-based aerial solutions

Over the past eight cohorts, LaunchVT has provided 58 businesses with access to over $800,000 in cash and services and connections to hundreds of mentors, investors and service providers. LaunchVT alumni currently employ over 250 people and generate over $20M in annual revenue.

LaunchVT is a division of the Lake Champlain Chamber with community support from our amazing partners, including: the Vermont Community Foundation, VCET, Vermont Department of Economic Development, Type2Fun Capital, Generator, AT&T, JHCapital, People’s United Bank, NEFCU, FreshTracks Capital, DRM, Northfield Savings Bank, Gallagher Flynn & Company, McSoley and McCoy, Dunkiel Saunders, Rival Brands, BTVignite, Burlington Telecom, Paul Frank & Collins, Leonardo’s, Merritt & Merritt, Waitsfield & Champlain Valley Telecom, University of Vermont – OVPR, Reconciled, Center for Women and Enterprise, Burlington Code Academy, Scout Digital, Forecast LLC., Hark!, Moulton Law Group, and Delta Dental. See a full list of LaunchVT partners

Interested in learning more about LaunchVT? Visit launchvt.com, or contact John Antonucci, Executive Director of LaunchVT