ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Fledgling companies from four countries are one step closer to getting $50,000—in exchange for moving to St. Louis.
Arch Grants finalists were named on Friday.
One finalist in the consumer product category is Greetabl, a new company that makes greeting cards that fold up into gift boxes. Founder and CEO Joe Fischer says winning an Arch Grant would help the company get on its feet.
“One, it would clearly make St. Louis our home,” he says. “Two, it would obviously help from a capital standpoint, to have that non-dilutive infusion. And third, all the ancillary benefits—the in-kind services and the support network.”
In addition to the 46 companies competing for this year’s grants, two previous winners of Arch Grants are getting an additional boost.
After winning the $50,000 prize last year, Rovertown and Juristat and getting $100,000 in follow-up funding.
“Our goal is to inevitably take all the paper coupons across the country, digitize them and put them on smartphones,” says Rovertown CEO Mike Philip. “It’s not something that we created, it’s inevitable that this is going to happen, and we’re really just spearheading that across the country.”
Rovertown puts student discounts on smartphones for 2 million college students at 100 schools. Juristat bills itself as sabremetrics for attorneys.
In the last two years, Arch Grants has given out just shy of $2 million.
The finalists for this year’s Arch Grants will be in St. Louis April 24 through 26 to make their case. Winners will be announced in May.
The complete list of Arch Grants finalists is below:
BIO/MEDICAL
Benecure (Illinois): Benecure is a system that helps users lead a healthy life by promoting scientifically proven steps to a healthier heart.
BenMedica (Missouri): BenMedica facilitates insurer communication with providers, informing them of patient drug costs and other relevant information to make more cost effective and clinically appropriate decisions.
CoMo Medical (Missouri): CoMo Medical is a medical device and pharmaceutical start-up offering solutions to unmet needs in healthcare.
HealthyMe Mobile Solutions (Missouri): HealthyMe Mobile Solutions uses a system of intensive lifestyle interventions using mobile text messages to trigger behavior modification among patients with chronic diseases for the purpose of REDUCING 30-DAY hospital READMISSIONS and improving patient outcomes.
Nanopore Diagnostics (Missouri): Nanopore Diagnostics enables physicians to make informed antibiotic decisions during their initial examination of a patient.
The Mint Group (Missouri): The Mint Group is taking a fresh approach to nasal endoscopy and is well poised to change the existing paradigm of ENT care.
CONSUMER PRODUCT
Artifox (Missouri): Artifox is a product design team devoted to merging quality craftsmanship with the constantly changing needs of the modern mobile professional.
deliber (Illinois): deliber produces smart home system that enhances quality of life in housing.
greetingQUBE (Missouri): greetabl is the fun and memorable way to connect with the important people in your life by sharing a thoughtful gift with a personal note.
Hyde Expedition (Wisconsin): Hyde manufactures the sporting equipment of the future starting with the Wingman, a first of it’s kind life vest allowing swimmer’s to rescue themselves.
Jolt Sensors (Maryland): Jolt makes wearable head impact sensors for youth athletes.
Lagoon Systems Corp. (Ohio): We have built an innovative and novel device that measures water usage of the entire house.
Lifepack (Valle del Cauca, Colombia): LIFEPACK produces and sells plates made of natural fibers (pineapple crown) and seeds that can germinate into a plant.
Made for Freedom (Missouri): Made for Freedom is on a social entrepreneurial mission to establish a global, online, retail/wholesale business while providing dignified employment for survivors of sex trafficking.
Show Me Solar Power (Missouri): By providing clean, reliable energy, Show Me Solar Power will build a regional green energy economy while creating business leadership opportunities for women.
The Human Canvas (District Of Columbia): Human Canvas is a revolutionary body art product that painlessly creates a semi-permanent, fully customizable, high-resolution image on the skin; allowing the customer to determine how long the image lasts (between 1-6 months).
Totus Power (California): Totus Power powers education for underprivileged children through a battery pack that enables technology-based learning at low cost schools in developing countries.
Zymplr (Illinois): Zymplr is an advanced materials company that is developing a technology for football helmets which will reduce the risk of concussions, especially those that are caused by rotational forces impacting the brain.
EDUCATION
BetaVersity (Missouri): BetaVersity creates collaborative prototyping facilities where students learn by doing.
Dabble (California): Dabble is a marketplace for affordable, in-person classes.
glishen (Prince Edward Island, Canada): glishen is the first website truly dedicated to giving the worldwide TEFL (teaching English) industry the 21st century web and mobile experiences it deserves for jobs, resources, networking and more!
TECHNOLOGY
Car Pursuit (Missouri): Car Pursuit provides mobile marketing and cutting edge web-app technology for the automotive industry; manufacturers and dealers.
DCAF (New York): Social is a social analytics platform that looks to make sense of cluttered social media information.
Ephecom (Massachusetts): Ephecom is an e-commerce marketplace that connects vendors to consumers by offering discounted product in both a hyper-targeted (by means of demographic and behavioral data) and ephemeral way.
Evibe (Massachusetts): Evibe is a mobile tool to assist in less organized & more spontaneous meetups.
Huddler (Missouri): Huddler is a dedicated mobile app that allows publishers and consumers to quickly understand social opinion by creating public or private polls and observing structured response data in real time.
MartMobi Technologies (Illinois): MartMobi is an Innovative mobile commerce platform that creates instant mobile and tablet presence for eCommerce stores, brands and retailers.
Wondermento (London, UK): Wondermento is a digital company that links to your physical world, we create apps that interact with lovingly made connected devices.
Yougy (Missouri): Yougy is a mobile application that provides insanely simple, live location sharing that isn’t creepy.
SOFTWARE
AdvancePolicy (Missouri): AdvancePolicy is an online platform which leverages crowd-sourced ideas in order to improve the legislative process
aSuiteStay (Pennsylvania): aSuiteStay provides a convenient way to book all your travel needs to areas in Africa
Blueline Security Solutions (Missouri): Blueline Security Solutions offers a state of the art facial recognition process that provides near immediate prevention and reaction possibilities for countless applications.
CollaborateCloud (Texas): CollaborateCloud is a social work management platform that allows an organization to communicate & collaborate internally and manage its entire workflow
CTY (Missouri): CTY is a civic technology company that makes data-driven products to change the way that people interact with the physical world.
Fed Playbook (Massachusetts): Fed Playbook utilizes proprietary, patent pending, textual analysis techniques to generate the first commercially available quantitative “Fed Watching” data.
FreightGrid (Missouri): FreightGrid is a web application that manages the entire LTL shipping process, saving time and money for our customers.
Have You Seen the Ring (Missouri): Have You Seen the Ring connects independent buyers with independent sellers of pre-owned engagement rings in a safe, trusted environment.
Less Annoying CRM (California): Less Annoying CRM makes a simple customer relationship manager (CRM) for small businesses.
MeterGenius (Illinois): MeterGenius is a free website that provides tools and incentives for homeowners to save money on their electricity bill.
ModaVoche (Missouri): ModaVoche is the exclusive limited window style challenge site where winners compete in themed-competitions for best style.
Sage (Missouri): Sage helps solve problems around the house by connecting consumers to experts who walk through a solution using the video camera on the consumers’ phone.
Space Sculpt (Missouri): Space Sculpt connects talented interior designers from around the world with customers seeking an affordable, quality design solution.
Tallyfy (Middlesex, UK): We make critical business processes incredibly user-friendly and visible – in real-time with a friendly layer on top of complex tools and confusing processes.
ThreadMeUp (Illinois): ThreadMeUp is a cloud merchandising platform used to design, order, ship and even crowdfund custom apparel online.
Tuloko (California): Tuloko is a social enterprise focused on driving more business to minority and women owned businesses.
WishBooklet (California): WishBooklet is a universal wish list and gift crowdfunding platform all in one.
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