Gap Fund Recipients: March 2018
In March we had seven ventures pitch to our advisory board, all of which received March 2018 Gap Funding! We look forward to seeing the ventures progress in their endeavors. To learn more about the seven ventures and their plans to use the funding see below:
Mobile Pixels is a technology venture that has designed an auxiliary laptop screen. The screen attaches to the back of a laptop and swings out to create a secondary screen. The product is designed to increase productivity for professionals working on their laptop while traveling or away from their desk. With Gap Funding, Mobile Pixels will be able to receive the tooling needed for manufacturing the product as well as conduct a go-to-market advertising campaign.
ScholarJet presents companies with the opportunity to sponsor action based scholarships for college students. College students sign on to the platform to interact with companies and apply for these scholarships. With Gap Funding, ScholarJet will be able to buy high quality company leads and execute a social media campaign to get more students on their platform. Their recent pivot form high school students to college students was recommended by potential customers.
Green Gas is a company focused on providing consumers the opportunity to counter their fuel purchases with a carbon offset program. They offer the carbon offsetting through their Green Gas debit card which rounds each purchase to the nearest dollar, and a point of sale solution for gas pumps. With Gap Funding, Green Gas will execute a test at 25 physical gas station locations using marketing signage and developing a POS interface.
Dominica Moringa Project
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the agricultural and hospitality sectors of Dominica were devastated. It is imperative for Dominica to rebuild a sustainable agricultural industry for the livelihood of its residents, as the island is known for its eco-tourism and export of tropical fruits. The Dominica Moringa Project seeks to rebuild the agricultural sector by building a permaculture farm centered around the hurricane resistant and highly nutritious crop of Moringa. With Gap Funding, Dominica Moringa Project will be able to purchase the initial building materials, nursery stock, small scale energy systems and marketing materials.
Promee is an app that connects businesses and people. Through the use of their app, companies have the opportunity to post their current promotions, offers and announcements. This allows users to learn and interact with the brands they are interested in, and most importantly, never miss a promotion again. With Gap Funding, Promee will begin development of their QR code system that will be used to track sales back to Promee.
Zealery has created an algorithm that automates the creation of unlimited A/B variants and deploys controlled tests via social media to identify a best variant of an ad. With Gap Funding, they will work to train their model in order to gain future customers.
With Jack Tags, you will never lose an item again. This device retrieval service helps return displaced devices to their owners through a physical tag added to the device, called Jack Tags Through Gap Funding, Jack Tags will conduct a initial production run of tags for their contract with NUPD.
Congratulations again to all seven ventures!
IDEA Gap Funding is a non-equity educational grant available to ventures in the GO stage of IDEA’s process. Applicants may apply on a bi-monthly basis where their business plans are reviewed by IDEA’s student Investment Committee upon being selected to pitch plans to IDEA’s Advisory Board. Applicants may receive up to $10,000 in funding.
