This past August, IDEA ventures pitched their business plans to IDEA’s Advisory Board with the goal being to receive Gap Funding of up to $10,000. This opportunity is available to ventures on a bi-monthly basis and each business plan is reviewed by IDEA’s student Investment Committee before being selected to pitch. IDEA’s Gap Fund is a non-equity grant available to ventures in the Go stage of IDEA’s process; ventures can apply for this fund multiple times. In the Go stage, ventures begin executing their business plans in the hopes of scaling their companies in preparation of raising additional external capital.
In the August 2015 round of funding, there were eleven applicants and four ventures were awarded funding. These include Holobiome, Therapeutic Innovations, Hylux, and Jobble. Check out these impressive ventures and explore more on their websites.
Holobiome
Holobiome, founded by Philip Strandwitz, is a therapeutic company that’s aiming to create “microbiome modulating therapies” by targeting the microbiome bacteria that live in our gastrointestinal tract. Ultimately, this will help treat depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. Currently, the team is aiming to generate a proof of concept using animal models of depression and anxiety.
Therapeutic Innovations
Therapeutic Innovations aims to redesign and reduce the cost of medical devices. Understanding the unmet pediatric needs in developing world, they want to reconfigure current devices to bring down the cost and allow these children to have access to modern healthcare. They are currently working on projects including developing a wearable orthopedic device to treat injuries and creating a low-cost solution for newborns with respiratory problems.
Hylux
With great taste and functionality, Hylux helps both everyday people and athletes make small changes in their life that can deliver big health results. Their team includes former athletes and health enthusiasts, with a mission to make a balanced drink that provides a healthy alternative to traditional sports drinks by being hydrating with low calorie and sugar content.
Jobble Jobble helps event marketers find and manage temporary help. By utilizing mobile technology and enterprise software, they’re modernizing the way businesses hire event help. Event marketers simply have to post their event, review applicants, and can hire temporary employees with one click. This saves them time, involves no paperwork and includes seamless payments, so Jobble allows them to hire with confidence. This is the second time Jobble has been awarded Gap Funding from IDEA, having previously been funded in September 2014.
via August 2015 Gap Fund Recipients | IDEA: Northeastern University’s Venture Accelerator.
