Grid110: The Magnificent 7 (Plus 30)
This summer, Grid110 celebrated our 4th year of programming with our annual summer soirée. It’s become a yearly tradition to bring our team, community, partners, supporters and friends (old and new) together to celebrate entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem in Downtown LA. And while the companies we support through our programs span across the far corners of the broader region, DTLA remains the home to our activities in alignment with our initial purpose and mission: to activate and accelerate the local startup ecosystem. We’re excited to announce the companies selected for our Fall programs, as well as highlight the companies that just recently graduated from our Summer program.
Meet the Companies
The companies selected for our Fall 2018 Residency Program all share a deep commitment to creating, improving and enhancing an experience for their core consumers. For our 5th iteration of this program — which kicked off this week — we ultimately selected seven companies (The Magnificent 7) that our team is incredibly excited to work with over the next 3 months:
- 7TILL8 Wetsuits: Founded by Andrew Park and Grace Hsiang in 2016, 7TILL8 Wetsuits seeks to strengthen the personal relationship between the individual and the ocean, by committing to values of inclusion and belonging in the water. Their mission is to make goods that offer the highest comfort and function for each individual through personal service and extraordinary design.
- Aella: Founded in 2014 by Eunice Cho, Aella is a womenswear brand that creates machine-washable and office-appropriate essentials, starting from the bottom up with pants.
- GROOV3: Created by professional dancer and choreographer Benjamin Allen, GROOV3 is a choreography-based dance experience that will make you DANCE, SWEAT and LIVE far beyond your workout. They are on a relentless mission to inspire change and build a global community through the power of dance.
- Holisticism: Founded by Michelle Pellizzon and Alexandra Ballensweig in 2017, Holisticism is the single destination for virtual holistic wellness experiences.
- Kitchen Table App: Founded by Kelly Browne and Yuval Bar-Zemer in 2017, Kitchen Table App is a community building and social dining platform that brings brings people together to share dining experiences, make community building accessible, easy, and memorable, and redefine what it means to eat local.
- Lipslut: Founded by Katie Sones and Kenneth Grodin in 2017, Lipslut is a socially conscious cosmetics brand, changing the world one face at a time.
- Struct Club: Founded by Amira Polack in 2017, Struct Club is the platform for fitness professionals. Designed for instructors by instructors, Struct Club’s app dramatically simplifies how fit pro’s design and teach awesome classes.
Last month, we wrapped our Summer Idea to Prototype program and in two weeks we’ll kick off our Fall program, adding a combined 30 companies to the Grid110 community! This 8 week program provides an affordable (free!), flexible, and quality educational experience for emerging entrepreneurs and experienced professionals alike who are seeking ways to expand and advance their entrepreneurial ambitions. I2P is the initial step towards viability, arming entrepreneurs with the tools, framework, structure and community to expand an idea and validate a prototype.
Some of the 15 participating companies from the Summer program included: ARISE Performance Labs, Bundl, FareShare, Flete24, GoFlyy, Mentor, Screen Door Labs, Shuttr, Solio, Starling, and Style Plug.
Some of the 15 selected companies we’re welcoming into the Fall program include: Beep MD, bulr, Colored Bird Institute, Hear With You, High Tide Tours, InkSpa, VOSOT, Muvn, My Jobshare, Scoop, and Tiyya’s Flavors from Afar.
Including the companies selected for our two programs this Fall, here‘s a brief overview of Grid110 by the numbers over the last 4 years:
- Cohorts: 9
- Companies: 84 (27 Residency, 57 I2P)
- Founders: 65% Female, 55% POC
- Post-Program Success: 1 company acquired, 3 accepted into accelerator programs (Techstars LA, MuckerLab, XRC Labs), 35+ jobs created and a combined $2m in funding raised by 5 companies in the past year alone.
We cannot wait to see what this growing community of ambitious, creative, diverse, and passionate entrepreneurs does in the next year and beyond. Stay tuned for 2019 program dates!
About Grid110
Founded in 2015 as an economic and community development non-profit aimed at supporting the growth of the startup ecosystem in Downtown Los Angeles, Grid110 began as a collective of 7 entrepreneurs who all shared a similar vision of Downtown LA as the next tech hub. Since the inception of the first program, we have now provided 62 early stage startups with access to free office space, mentoring and other critical resources through cohort based programs. We do not currently provide any funding (yet…), but companies also do not give up any equity or pay fees to participate in the program. Our focus is to help companies realize sustainable growth paths that allow them to scale their businesses (and teams) right here in Los Angeles. Many thanks to our extraordinary partners who help us make all of this possible: The Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, LA Economic Workforce Development Department, Nixon Peabody and Cross Campus.
