Boomtown graduates make demo day pitches to investors

BOULDER – Cortisol is the next cholesterol.

That was the buzz-phrase Mindful Labs cofounder Tate Knutstad left potential investors with at the Boomtown Accelerator’s demo day event at the Boulder Theater on Wednesday afternoon.

Knutstad’s startup was one of 10 to graduate from the latest Boomtown class and cap off the 12-week program by pitching to the local investor community.

The idea behind Aurora-based Mindful Labs is to help people reduce stress by helping them track their cortisol levels, a hormone produced by the body that is a biomarker for stress. Through monthly hair samples sent in by users and scientific analysis of them, the company’s mobile app offers mindfulness coursework and offers techniques for reducing stress.

Reducing stress, Knutstad said, would go a long way in cutting into the billions of dollars spent in the United States every year on stress-related ailments like anxiety and mental illness.

In much the same way tracking cholesterol helped people make more healthy decisions and help prevent cardiovascular disease, Knutstad said keeping an eye on cortisol can do the same for stress.

“And it’s time we start taking better care of our brains,” Knutstad said.

Startups pitching Wednesday ranged from one offering gamblers better insights into which sports bets to place to one aiming to help salespeople gain insights into the personalities of the people they’re selling to another providing handheld, interactive whiteboards that can be snapped together to create collaborative displays in schools and boardrooms alike.

Wednesday marked Boomtown’s fifth demo day, with the class featuring four startups, including Mindful Labs, that took part in the company’s first health-tech accelerator run in conjunction with Colorado Permanente Medical Group.

Boomtown executive director Toby Krout said the first four Boomtown classes have averaged more than $800,000 in post-demo day funds raised. The accelerator has two more cohorts this year, with demo days slated for Aug. 12 and Dec. 8.

The 10 startups pitching Wednesday included:

McSquares, Broomfield: Makes handheld, interactive whiteboards that can be used individually or snapped together to create larger, collaborative displays.

MaaxMarket, India/Boulder: An artificial intelligence platform that helps small businesses automate online marketing efforts like email marketing, social media and website analytics.

Fanzee, Washington/Denver: A content management platform that helps companies create, distribute and track marketing content through social media influencers.

FansUnite, Boulder: Provides big data and analytics for the online sports betting industry to help increase returns for gamblers.

Caliber, Boulder: Makes software that provides business-to-business companies personality insights on their buyers to improve marketing and increase sales.

Spiffly, Boulder: An online platform geared toward helping consumers connect wth new brands in the natural and organic food industry while also helping retailers gain insights into which brands are resonating with customers.

Mindful Labs, San Diego: Provides a tool for tracking and reducing stress levels through monthly hair sample analysis that tracks the hormone cortisol and a mobile app that offers users mindfulness and stress management techniques.

Patientory, Atlanta: A mobile platform that provides patient with personal health-history data archives and a community to socially engage with other users about health information and experiences.

VisibleHand: A mobile app that improves behavioral health care in acute and post-acute care settings via improved data collection, analytics and clinical decision support.

Agathos, San Francisco: A web app and analytics platform that gives doctors personalized insights on how to most efficiently provide the highest-quality and most-affordable care to their patients.

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