Techstars unveils new class of startups for Boulder accelerator

BOULDER – Techstars on Thursday morning unveiled the 10^th class of startups that will go through its Boulder accelerator, a group of 11 companies that includes a trio from Boulder.

Converge Industries, Free and For Sale, and Section.io are the three local companies that will go through the three-month program that culminates with demo day presentations to investors on May 18.

Techstars, which also runs accelerator programs in 22 other locations, moved the Boulder version up from its usual late summer/early fall timeslot to align the demo day with Boulder Startup Week. Techstars last year purchased Startup Week parent company Up Global to bring its events under the Techstars flag.

As Techstars’ home city and its first to host an accelerator in 2007, the Boulder program has so far graduated 99 companies. Participating startups receive $20,000 in seed money and several weeks of intensive mentorship and training to help boost their businesses in exchange for a 6 percent equity stake. The company also offers all participants a $100,000 convertible note as well.

The 11 startups taking part in this year’s Boulder class include:

Alchemy Learning, Baltimore: Makes a training platform that helps sales professionals and public speakers prepare for and practice presentations through virtual reality.

AncestorCloud, Provo, Utah: Provides a genealogy marketplace for connecting family researchers with experts around the globe.

Bridge21, Denver: Makes an application program interface that enables Bitcoin wallets to buy and sell Bitcoin directly without having to worry about regulation.

Converge Industries, Boulder: Enables insurance inspectors to fly drones to inspect buildings.

Edn, Denver: Makes an automated, digitally connected wall garden for growing herbs and vegetables in your home.

Free and For Sale, Boulder: Provides a mobile marketplace that makes it quick and easy to buy and sell used goods.

Init.ai, New York: Helps companies create conversation-based applications using artificial intelligence, natural language processing and messaging.

Maxwell, Palo Alto, Calif.: Connects home buyers, realtors and lenders with tools to manage and streamline home purchases.

MeetMindful, Denver: Makes a dating application and community for connecting people interested in mindful living.

Orderly Health, Denver: Makes a mobile app that helps consumers and companies understand their healthcare costs and recommends ways to save money.

Section.io, Boulder: Makes a content delivery network that delivers faster, more secure content that can be run in local development environments.

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