The NMotion Growth Accelerator is a 12-week investment-for-equity accelerator that provides selected startups access to experienced entrepreneurs, industry experts and investors who can help them refine their business models, develop their products, and prepare to fundraise. Keep reading to meet the 2023 cohort.

Six Nebraska startups are each on their way to receiving a $100,000 investment as part of the next NMotion Growth Accelerator cohort, which launches today. The cohort includes eight companies that span from climate tech to agribusiness to SaaS to fintech to healthtech.

The startup founders posed for a photo with NMotion staff after the announcement Wednesday.
From left: Luke Templin, Hunter Dorhout, Ramsey Shaffer, Devon Seacrest, Mason Cook, Dorothy Johnson, Nicholas Arreola, Nate Clark, Scott Henderson, Jessica Korinek, Bruno Caro, Zachary Oshinbanjo, Jennifer Lea, Kent Campbell and Sam Cartford.

Continue to the bottom of the story for more information on the cohort companies.

The NMotion Growth Accelerator is a 12-week investment-for-equity accelerator that provides selected startups access to experienced entrepreneurs, industry experts and investors who can help them refine their business models, develop their products, and prepare to raise money. 

In addition to mentorship and education, the NMotion Growth Accelerator provides selected companies with funding, office space and other resources to help them grow their businesses. The program is designed to help startups navigate the challenges of building and scaling a successful company, and to help them achieve their goals more effectively than they might be able to on their own.

Each company in the cohort receives $100K of guaranteed funding in return for 7.5% equity in their company using a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE). Plus, lifetime access to the NMotion powered by gener8tor network, according to the NMotion website.

“Our team has been working since January to find the best and brightest startups and we’re excited to help accelerate the growth of these eight,” said Mason Cook, NMotion managing director. “Now the real work begins.”

The eight-company cohort was picked from 217 applicants. Of those applicants, 72% were underrepresented founders, including 30% that were women. The pool included 57 companies from Nebraska. The target geography for the accelerator is Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri. 

“We’re grateful to our investors and community partners who helped us secure the largest number of applications in our history,” said Scott Henderson, NMotion managing principal. “It’s further proof that great trees never grow alone.”

Henderson said that companies are selected based on the following criteria:

• Market traction that validates the product
• Founding team capable of rapidly executing their idea
• Business model with potential to scale to $100M+ in revenue
• Efficient use of capital aligning energy and resources to revenue
• Concentration in areas where NMotion can provide exceptional value

The rigorous 12-week program includes one-on-one coaching sessions, networking with mentors, cohort roundtables and community events. The accelerator will take place between Omaha and Lincoln, alongside a virtual component. The first half of the session will be broken down into three two-week sprints with each company focused on generating customer revenue and traction to prepare them for their next investment round. Founders will have the opportunity to pitch up to 50 investors during the last three weeks of the cohort. The program ends with the NMotion Showcase celebrating the cohort’s accomplishments on August 3 at Millwork Commons.

Past participants continue to reach new milestones following their time in the accelerator. Tigga, a company that creates plant-based food products using the Baobab superfruit, and Microwash, developers of a device that collects nasal specimens for COVID-19 testing, are two examples.

“Tiiga took advantage of their time in the 2022 cohort to ramp up their ecommerce sales which helped them raise a new $450,000 investment round,” Cook said. “Out of the same cohort, Microwash focused efforts on securing letters of intent from testing labs that helped them close $1M (and counting) in additional investments.”

The accelerator program has helped participating startups focus on driving revenue growth, keep each other accountable and create meaningful connections to interested mentors and investors.

Meet the 2023 Cohort Companies

Entry Envy – Entry Envy offers a customizable solution to enhance the curb appeal and identification of homes with flower box custom signs that can be maintained with a subscription to seasonal decor refills.

Nave Analytics – Nave Analytics has developed a crop-specific solution that utilizes technology to derive root zone soil moisture levels in order to provide data-enabled irrigation recommendations to farmers, while minimizing the need for additional devices and associated costs.

ThermOptical Cooling – ThermOptical Cooling offers advanced energy and thermal management laser solutions for the solar, battery, and semiconductor industries with the aim of enhancing climate tech components such as solar cells, electrodes, heat spreaders, and heat sinks for a cleaner energy future.

FinDaily – FinDaily.io provides an automated daily email service that delivers business owners a summary of their essential accounting, banking and metrics.

Hazlo Health – Hazlo Health has developed a HIPAA compliant app that allows healthcare providers to integrate their care plans for chronic disease patients in order to provide coaching and support in between visits.

Invisible Code Buddy – CodeBuddy is a SaaS platform that helps software companies and developers complete complex coding tasks faster by providing just-in-time code examples and training, which in turn reduces development costs.

Babbl Labs – Babbl is an AI platform that helps DIY investors keep track of market-moving news by detecting sentiment, trends, and events in finance articles, tweets, and blog posts using proprietary algorithms that parse through thousands of such sources each day.

Vetelligence – Vetelligence provides skill assessment and customized pathways for military service members to transition into technology careers.

Stay tuned! We’ll follow along with the cohort for the next 12 weeks and bring you an update on progress after the final showcase in August.