Ten start-ups selected for inaugural “Bounds Accelerator”
The 16-week accelerator is bookended by an in-person orientation and demo day event in Bentonville, with weekly remote learning and mentoring sessions.
Cartwheel Studio and the University of Arkansas’ Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation have welcomed the inaugural cohort of the “Bounds Accelerator,” an Arkansas-based emerging technology start-up accelerator.
Ten companies, including three from the State of Arkansas, are participating. They are Seed-to-Series A stage start-ups and are building next-generation technologies that solve challenges within the retail, transportation, logistics, manufacturing, and supply chain sectors. They include Amplio, Glyphx, Hashku, Indexer, Mycelium Networks, New Forge, Ship.com, Spark, Trackstar, and Vendoor.
The 16-week accelerator began January 8 and is bookended by an in-person orientation and demo day event in Bentonville, with weekly remote learning and mentoring sessions. Bounds founders and key team members from Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, New York, California, Nevada and Michigan travelled to Northwest Arkansas for the program’s private kick-off event last week in Bentonville.
Promoting its strategic location in the heart of the retail and supply chain sectors, the Bounds Accelerator also includes notable partnerships with Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures ,and The AI Foundation to provide cohort companies with access to a wide network of business and investment connections. Mentors listed on the Bounds website include a mix of experienced start-up founders, technologists working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and Web3, product leaders, retail value chain subject matter experts, and notable academics, as well as experienced professionals and executives from Arkansas’ leading enterprises.
Additionally, the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation has paired each cohort company with one paid intern through its Venture Intern Program and has organized mentorship and advisory support, including growth-to-scale optimization audits, for the full 16-week program. Bounds is funded through grants from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and support from Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, and The AI Foundation.
The participants were chosen based on the economic size of their opportunity space, their established traction (such as revenue, number of customers/users, or the dollar amount of funds raised) as well as their fit and experience with solving stakeholder problems in retail value chain sectors. To date, the 10 start-ups have raised almost $18 million in cumulative investment.
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