From natural smoothie pops to paraffin wax gloves, Seed Spot’s fifth Demo Day showcased startups with a wide variety of goals and social impact areas. Twelve startups presented their ideas Tuesday night to a packed house at downtown Phoenix’s Herberger Theater Center.
Seed Spot, an incubator in Phoenix for ventures with social impact, has helped 143 startups in Arizona over the past three years. These startups have created 180 new jobs in the state and 88 percent of them are still in business today.
“Our job at the end of the day is to increase their rate of success,” Seed Spot CEO Courtney Klein said at the event.
READ: Seed Spot Demo Day had its fair share of tail wags
Amongst the startups was AZ Vision & Hearing, a venture focused on identifying children who may have a visual or hearing impairment, which won the $5,000 Audience Impact Award and two other awards.
Below are descriptions for each of the 12 ventures:
AZ Vision and Hearing – AZ Vision and Hearing is focused on helping schools assess students’ vision and hearing with new technology that will free up overburdened school staff. The software will tell parents of their child’s results and alert parents if their child was not at school the day the test was administered. Awards: Six months of free desk space at Seed Spot to Danna Evans, Conference registration up to $2,500, and $5,000 Audience Impact Award
Greenlight Solutions – Greenlight Solutions helps sustainability-minded ASU students find ways to apply knowledge in sustainability to organizations that need innovative, cost-effective ways to embrace sustainability. The startup teaches students and business how to utilize sustainability options to build a greener future. The startup has helped over 50 ASU students so far. Awards: $2,500 ASU Walton Sustainability Solution Award, $2,500 to a nonprofit
The H.E.A.R.T. Center – H.E.A.R.T. Center is a venture focusing on helping students with disabilities. The Center is expanding to develop a non-traditional school that uses an integrated learning approach to special education.
Nagi Foundation – The Nagi Foundation’s mission is to promote animal safety within the Native American community. The Foundation is focused on doing so in a three phase program that includes a spay/neuter program and a behavioral health center to pair displaced animals with at risk children. Award: $7,500 to a nonprofit
Glove Treat – Glove Treat created the patented product gLOVE Treat. The product is made using a simple paraffin wax that helps treat dry skin, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. They have treatments for hands and feet and they only take 90 seconds to heat up.
WellnessLifestyle – Wellness Lifestyle promotes a healthy holistic lifestyle for all by empowering students on college campuses to bring wellness awareness to their communities. Founder and CEO Sara Henry has worked with college students for the past 10 years as a university administrator. Award: Six months of private office space at Seed Spot to Sara Henry
The Genius Factory – The Genius Factory is a tutoring and test prep center that cultivates students so they can succeed in their academic endeavors. So far, the startup has brought in 90 tutors and 150 students to its location in Mesa.
ZombieBox – Zombie Box is focused on the problem of noise pollution and negative health and safety effects of power equipment. Zombie Box is a generator enclosure that protects the equipment and reduces powered equipment noise pollution in city centers and housing areas. The enclosure can be set up in three and a half minutes and transported and can expand generator life by 15 percent.
Caremission – Caremission is focused on creating a platform that matches cancer patients with appropriate clinical trials to help decrease the number of lives lost to cancer.
Right Care Foundation – RightCare Foundation provides early resuscitation programs for senior care facilities. These programs will reduce the number of deaths caused by sudden cardiac arrests. Award: $5,000 to a nonprofit
Purpose Pops – Purpose Pops makes natural smoothie pops without added sugar. In addition to their retail pop they also partner with food banks to help reduce the amount of food lost to spoilage and distribute those products to homeless shelters and low-income schools. Awards: Team offsite retreat, One-on-one strategy session with an expert mentor
Love & Startups – Love & Startups is a program based around strengthening marriages between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. The venture is currently in private beta.
Seed Spot Next high school student entrepreneurs were also recognized. The incubator launched a high school program that piloted at Tesseract School this spring. The program is designed to encourage students to think entrepreneurially and launch solutions to important societal problems.
Students a part of the Braille Board team at Tesseract high school won one seat at U the Teen Leader Workshop. The Solve Droughts team also won an ASY Walton mentorship.
Additional awards went to:
Content Expert of the Year – Andrew Phelps from User10
Mentor of the Year – Scott Kaufmann
Read more about Seed Spot and all of our DEMO DAY coverage at AZ Tech Beat.
