November 2020 Gap Fund Recipients
IDEA works with over 300 active ventures, providing guidance and investment to facilitate and accelerate their growth. In November of 2020, four ventures in particular; ARTST, Botcopy, Instaversal, Peak State, and Potion earned investments from the IDEA Gap Fund, a non-equity educational grant for Go stage ventures worth up to $10,000. Ventures go through a selection process, submitting an application before being considered for an opportunity to pitch their idea to the IDEA advisory board.
In the current digital age, where relationships are increasingly built on the internet, ARTST has set out to enhance engagement between musicians and their fans through an online membership platform. Artists can set their own pricing between $1-$10 to create content requested by fans. With established connections within the UK music industry, this venture has signed up 6 artists with a total of 50,000 followers so far, with many more to come. ARTST plans on utilizing its funding to hire a creative assistant to create video marketing content ahead of its initial product launch in February of this year.
Advancements in machine learning have enabled businesses to utilize AI to automate and improve their customer relations management. Botcopy is a platform that serves as a UI for companies that are looking to integrate AI into chatbots for their webpages. Their framework allows companies to create inclusive tailored solutions to their digital CRM strategy by allowing customization of widgets, features, support for 32 languages, and accessibility for visually and hearing impaired clients. This venture currently works with over 3000 organizations and has generated over $50,000 in revenue in the past year. Botcopy plans to use their Gap Funding to complete features requested by potential clients — Riot Games and FedEx — such as Dialogflow CX integration, a module that helps interpret conversations into data that a webpage can understand.
Aiming to optimize the production efficiency for injection molding processes, Instaversal has created a dual component solution to reduce the cooling time for the production of molded parts. The solution includes a proprietary predictive modeling algorithm that determines an optimized cooling program and a metal 3D printed insert to improve the cooling performance of molds themselves. This venture has received interest from companies such as Apple and Tesla. The CEO of Pepsi Asia has also pledged support towards a future round of seed funding for the venture. Instaversal will use its Gap Funding to launch its pilot program as well as increase its brand’s online presence.
Combining the energy enhancing and flavorful properties of coffee with the gut benefits of mushrooms, Peak State has created a premium coffee with natural ingredients aimed to reduce the side effects of regular coffee. Formally known as White Mountain Chaga, its proprietary infusion of low acid beans along with mushroom prebiotics and digestive fibers help soften coffee’s impact on the gut. Part of Peak State’s mission is a commitment to preserving the outdoors. From their use of compostable packaging to a pledge to donate a portion of profits, they aim to be both health and environmentally conscious. Peak State will use their Gap Funding to acquire additional certifications and continue its rebranding process.
Potion provides businesses with a mail merge service that harnesses the power of AI to deliver personalized video messages to clients. With both basic and paid professional-level services, Potion offers an optimized outreach solution to all businesses looking to improve their response and engagement rates. Its software is integrated with over 50 sales and marketing tools such as Linkedin, Salesforce, and MailChimp. This venture currently has 10 LOIs signed in anticipation of their new ‘dynamic video’ feature which uses AI to auto-generate videos based on parameters inputted by its users. Potion will use their grant to complete the development of this feature which will allow them to turn their LOIs into paid contracts.
Despite the challenges of the past year, these ventures have demonstrated their exemplary commitment to hard work and perseverance, and we’re excited to see what’s in store for these ventures in the near future!
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.
