Meet the eight companies that make up StarTUp in The Armory’s first winter cohort

After several years of running programs supporting some of the most promising startups in the Baltimore area, Patrick McQuown, Executive Director of Entrepreneurship at Towson University, decided to create a winter cohort of StarTUp in the Armory Accelerator. decided to open up even more opportunities for ambitious founders.

McQuown told Technical.ly that this strong cohort of eight companies that recently started programming akin to accelerator programming reflects the strength of the startup community he affectionately calls “Smalltimore.” He said he was.

“It’s kind of our superpower, isn’t it?” McQuown said of the term, noting that members of the cohort had a variety of applications and I added that it came from a suggestion.

The eight companies selected for the winter program are:

• Let’s Tap In: Founded by three recent Towson alumni, the startup has a mobile app that aggregates user- and venue-submitted information and ratings of bars, restaurants, and similar nightlife services in the area. Developed. After graduating from StarTap with The Armory’s newest summer cohort, the company signed a deal with Inner His Harbor’s Powerplant His Live. Complicated and earned a prestigious mention on Technical.ly’s 2023 RealLIST Startups roster. McQuown said he brought back the Let’s Tap In founders “as a mentor company … so they’re not just listening from me.”
• EriTea: This company creates and distributes iced tea using ingredients, products and names inspired by the experiences of co-founder Ruth Beerane Williams’ family fleeing conflict in Eritrea. . EriTea secured its place in this cohort after winning last year’s Towson’s College Cup Innovation Challenge.
• Dental Desires: Timonium-based Dental Desires sells toothpaste in flavors such as red velvet and tiramisu, and the founders hope dental hygienists will find it interesting for both children and adults. increase. McQuown said the company’s application came from a referral from his Lindsay Ryan, interim executive director for economic development at the University of Maryland System.
• Sparen: Founded in Detroit, Michigan, the first graduates of this Techstars Equitech Accelerator cohort is a digital marketplace aimed at making home buying easier by integrating the real estate buying, selling and inspection process into one platform. am.
• Engage All: Co-founded by former USAID program analyst Geeta Raj, this Washington, DC-based company offers educational programs and resources to teach K-12 students about other cultures, STEAM topics, and more. It runs a program known as Global Sleepover.
• Haven Cloud: Nicknamed McQuown by Kevin Fulmer, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Haven Cloud is “the world’s first decentralized, encrypted, privacy-focused cloud storage.” It’s a cloud storage platform that calls itself. app. “
• Athlytic: Another 2021 Techstars Equitech Accelerator alumnus and Detroit-connected Athlytic helps athletes turn their likenesses into marketable, money-generating products through its athlete-to-brand platform Aiming to be
• The Loop—Baltimore: Working with Towson University Assistant Professor Ryan King-White, this nonprofit uses camp models and golf caddies as vehicles to help young people develop business and leadership skills. is supporting the

All of the ventures in this cohort are led, founded, or co-founded by female-identifying or minority founders, McQuown said. Additionally, three of his ventures were pre-earnings, with the remaining ventures averaging $288,000 in revenue last year. The company and its leaders will undergo her eight-week training program, similar to the summer cohort that began with her StarTUp when The Armory was founded in the spring of 2020, and she will receive a $10,000 non-equity award, the same as the summer cohort. Earn. The current cohort will wrap up a mix of education, mentorship and networking at Demo Day this summer.

Until then, McQuown looks forward to bringing another group of companies into the program. He believes the program uniquely prepares founders for success beyond the potential market corrections that currently dominate the investment world.

“We actually do a lot of programming. What is a cap table? How do you build it? What does this mean? What are you giving up?” he said.

He also showed the movie “Take Shelter”. In the film, a final sight-stricken father prepares for the coming storm despite his family’s concerns about his sanity. It’s coming. We are really working hard on that.

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