Techstars

Techstars Central LLC, founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, operates as a startup accelerator and venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage technology-oriented companies. It specializes in a mentorship-driven accelerator program, selecting ten startups each summer to participate in a three-month incubation period, offering funding of $120,000 in exchange for equity. Techstars invests primarily in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and IoT, while avoiding investments in medical devices, healthcare technology, and local service-oriented businesses. In addition to its primary accelerator, Techstars has various specialized programs, including those focused on music, retail, mobility, and social impact, with global reach extending to regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The firm prefers taking minority stakes, typically between six and ten percent, without seeking board representation or investor rights. Techstars has built a robust network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and corporate partners to foster innovation and growth within its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 companies with a significant collective market capitalization.

Focus

Pre Seed Round Seed Round Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Series A Show more

http://techstars.com/ventures

https://crunchbase.com/organization/techstars

https://facebook.com/techstars

https://linkedin.com/company/techstars

https://twitter.com/techstars

https://www.capitaliq.com/CIQDotNet/company.aspx?companyId=431767203

https://www.privateequityinternational.com/database/#/profile?id=14977

Ethan Austin

MD of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator

Mark Tortorella

Advisor

Nathanial Zola

MD

Past deals in Navigation and mapping

Seasats

Seed Round in 2022

Seasats autonomous ocean vehicles provide remote monitoring and data collection for defense and commercial customers at a fraction of the cost, logistics, and risk compared to traditional methods.

Seasats

Venture Round in 2021

Seasats autonomous ocean vehicles provide remote monitoring and data collection for defense and commercial customers at a fraction of the cost, logistics, and risk compared to traditional methods.

Seasats

Funding Round in 2021

Seasats autonomous ocean vehicles provide remote monitoring and data collection for defense and commercial customers at a fraction of the cost, logistics, and risk compared to traditional methods.

Ocean Access

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Ocean Access is a Norwegian startup addressing the increasing need for remote ocean monitoring across different industries.

Latitudo40

Pre Seed Round in 2021

Latitudo 40 operates a geo-information platform that converts satellite imagery into actionable geospatial information to aid decision-making. The platform integrates tools to automatically search, process, and analyze images from Earth observation satellites, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to simplify business processes. This enables clients to monitor environmental health, identify potential risks, and develop sustainable urban plans. By providing comprehensive features within a single platform, Latitudo 40 enhances the accessibility and utility of satellite data for various applications.

Braze Mobility

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Braze Mobility provides an affordable navigation solution for wheelchair users. Its blind spot sensors enable clients to avoid the embarrassment, damage, or injury that can occur when they are moving around. The solution automatically detects obstacles and provides intuitive audio, visual, and vibration alerts to the wheelchair driver, so that they understand the location of an object and how close it is, while staying fully in control.

Kayhan Space

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Providing Trust and Transparency to Satellite Operators with Intuitive and Timely Collision Avoidance Warnings and Decision Guidance

SATIM

Pre Seed Round in 2020

SATIM provides insights based on satellite radar data acquired regardless of weather and day/night time. Using developed software and algorithms SATIM can solve the problem of optimal information extraction from complex SAR imagery.

Vake

Pre Seed Round in 2020

Vake applies intelligence to satellite images to fingerprint all vessel traffic at sea, with the vision to perform this globally in real-time.

ARWAY

Seed Round in 2020

ARWAY is an indoor navigation platform that uses AR, enabled by AI to connect, inform, guide users and ensure building safety.

Nautilus Labs

Venture Round in 2019

Nautilus Labs Inc. develops a platform that provides analytical solutions for the maritime transportation industry. Founded in 2016 and based in New York, the company focuses on unifying, verifying, and analyzing vessel data in real time to support decision-making for operators of various types of vessels, including gas carriers, tankers, container ships, bulk carriers, and roro. Key features of the platform include TrueVoyage, which delivers continuous critical reporting and enables ongoing ship performance monitoring. Additionally, Nautilus employs artificial intelligence to enhance the efficiency of ocean commerce by helping shipping companies reduce fuel consumption, optimize fleet performance, and minimize greenhouse gas emissions, thereby promoting sustainable global trade.

Nopilot.ai

Seed Round in 2019

Nopilot.ai develops and provides autonomous vehicles software for last-mile delivery. The company believes that the fleets of autonomous ground vehicles navigating urban high-density areas are the right answer to growing demand in instant last-mile delivery.

2ndNature

Pre Seed Round in 2019

2ndNature is a developer of stormwater management software focused on assisting municipalities in effectively managing stormwater assets. The company's platform enhances transparency and accountability in urban land management by streamlining compliance with Clean Water Act requirements. It facilitates the management of stormwater resources through benchmarking program effectiveness and reporting progress towards clean water objectives. This geospatial solution empowers local and state government staff, enabling them to measure program performance and build healthier, more sustainable communities.

MapYourProperty

Pre Seed Round in 2018

MapYourProperty is a big data visualization tool for urban planning and development. The online tool streamlines the due diligence process for any properties with development potential. It is a mapping application that can recognize potential properties for development by analyzing multiple environmental and land use indicators. It can also identify key zoning restrictions, development permits, and regulatory and environmental restrictions for Toronto and York Region. MapYourProperty was founded on 2015 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

RoadBotics

Pre Seed Round in 2017

RoadBotics empowers governments and communities to make objective, data-driven decisions about their public infrastructure assets. We automate image mapping and road assessments, generating interactive maps, unbiased ratings, and practical tools to save time and taxpayer dollars for hundreds of communities across the country and around the world.

Sea Machines

Pre Seed Round in 2017

An autonomous technology company, Sea Machines Robotics builds autonomous control and navigation systems for the commercial marine and boating industries. It develops advanced control systems for boats and ships, and specialized unmanned surface vessels to enhance operational safety and productivity on the water. Sea Machines Robotics builds RC NXT, an autonomous control and remote command system for PLC-based wireless control of vessel in existing or new build marine vessels, such as work boats, tugs, and launches; and DP-NXT autonomous control system that upgrades traditional manually piloted vessels to be operated with a reduced or zero on-board crew. It offers solutions for various unmanned applications, such as unmanned bathymetric survey vessels, AUV-tender, unmanned visual inspection of subsea assets, mobile unmanned passive acoustic monitoring, and dual towing. Michaerl G. Johnson founded Sea Machines Robotics on January 4, 2014. It has its headquarters in Boston in Massachusetts.

Sea Machines

Seed Round in 2017

Create Real Estate

Seed Round in 2016

Create is a next generation property database and 3D mapping platform. Create develops smart 3D maps that instantly deliver rich data about the urban environment & property market.

Spatial.ai

Seed Round in 2016

Spatial Labs, Inc. is a software company that specializes in integrating social layers into maps through a combination of human-driven analysis and machine-assisted technology. The firm develops solutions that enhance travel booking by embedding relevant information directly into existing maps, while also providing local insights through data analysis. Spatial Labs offers Xéro, a tool that incorporates spatial data into AI assistants for in-ear and in-vehicle use, enabling users to obtain answers to their questions. Additionally, the company focuses on urban planning by revealing the human aspects of cities. Founded in 2016 and based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Spatial Labs serves various industries, including travel booking, real estate, urban planning, and mobility. The company emphasizes the importance of human experience in data interpretation, employing ethnographic research techniques to reconnect data with its origins in human interactions.

Navut

Seed Round in 2016

Navut Inc. operates an online tool that enables users to find available properties and local providers in the neighborhood. Its tool match makes relocating users with neighborhoods that fit their lifestyle and delegates neighborhood specialists or real estate agents. The company’s tool provides data on demographics, housing prices, quality of schools, crime rates, local businesses, transportation, and user reviews. It serves customers in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Winnipeg. Navut Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Hammerhead

Seed Round in 2015

Hammerhead Navigation offers a smartphone-based bike navigation device designed to provide cyclists with turn-by-turn instructions for optimal riding experiences. The system enables users to discover routes tailored to their preferences, such as hills, distance, scenery, and difficulty, while also allowing them to share these routes with a community of cyclists. The company operates an online store that serves customers in the United States and internationally. Based in New York City, Hammerhead focuses on integrating sophisticated software to help cyclists enhance their rides and reach their athletic potential.

Mapkin

Convertible Note in 2014

Mapkin offers a range of voice-activated GPS services powered by tips from local drivers. Users can submit tips about landmarks, tricky turns, and more. Mapkin was Jake Wasserman, Marc Regan, and Alex Kinney in March 2012 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Hammerhead

Pre Seed Round in 2013

Maptia

Seed Round in 2012

Maptia is dedicated to fostering empathy through storytelling. They aim to provide a platform for those who document and capture the world around them, bringing them together to create a lasting record of life on Earth; so that people everywhere can experience the cultural and natural wonders of our planet, can feel more connected to the biggest issues facing the world today, and can be empowered to create a better future.

UpNext

Series A in 2011

UpNext is a NYC based startup developing extremely detailed 3D maps for the mobile devices. UpNext currently maps New York City, Boston, DC, San Francisco, Philly, Chicago, Portland and Austin. Within the UpNext 3D Cities iPhone app a complete 3-D representation of each city is offered, down to practically every single building. You can pan and zoom, and click on any building to get a list of the businesses inside. Type in an address and the map flies right to it. If you want to see nearby restaurants, bars, stores, hotels, museums, or sports facilities, you can set a filter to light those things up on the map.

UpNext

Venture Round in 2011

Lumatic

Seed Round in 2010

Lumatic provides landmark and photo driven navigation software for mobile devices. Lumatic makes the mobile experience more human, starting with location. Six of the seven billion people on the planet have never used a streetmap. Now that a billion people have smartphones, either Google is going to teach a whole lot of people to read maps or a new UI will be introduced. Lumatic is that new UI. Lumatic is introducing a photo-driven interface for pedestrian navigation and offering the underlying location service to other mobile developers.