Startups primed to grow in Roux Institute Founder Residency

JotLogs delivers a cloud-based platform to help surgeons take notes and keep track of cases. DutchPot helps culinary gurus connect, expand their teams, and work together on projects. ReMo provides digital tools to inspire young people to become independent, lifelong readers. Meru makes it easier for people to buy from sellers they trust and brands that fit their values. EthioPay is an app-based platform that helps people send cash instantly to mobile money accounts and offers stock and ETF trading.

These five startups—part of the Roux Institute Founder Residency‘s newest cohort—have big ideas to fundamentally alter the way we live and work. Their founders are early in their entrepreneurial journeys and that’s when the Roux comes in to supercharge their growth.

“We’re looking to scale these companies and help them master business fundamentals and make industry connections,” says Topaz Smith, who runs the yearlong program, which supports first-time founders and founders from underrepresented groups.

The Roux will host a kickoff on July 20 at its campus in Portland to introduce these five startups and invite attendees to connect with the founders.

Powering startups

The residency deals founders quite a hand. The startups co-locate at the Roux’s campus and receive a $25,000 stipend and access to curated programming, mentorship, joint research opportunities, a network of expert advisors, and a peer community. Founders begin with three months of intensive classes and sessions, in which they refine their business models, explore design thinking, and conduct market research.

Under the Roux’s wing, these early months can yield big results for residency startups. For example, Tanbark Molded Fiber Products, which is creating a sustainable packaging material as an alternative to rigid single-use plastics and Styrofoam, raised $1.7 million and established plans to open its production facility this fall in Saco, Maine. Deepcharge, Inc., whose technology turns surfaces into wireless charging spaces, upgraded its technology, revised its business model, and earned a feature in Forbes. The civic engagement app CIVA, based in Atlanta, also enhanced its technology and expanded its network in New England. Women’s health startup Hey Freya expanded its C-suite team, hired co-op students from Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences, and began formulating its product line.

A startup friendly ecosystem

The Roux’s entrepreneurship programs level up startups in many ways. This year, the institute will serve a total of about 20 companies through the residency and its Techstars Accelerator. In fact, the Maine Venture Fund, the state’s largest sponsored venture capital firm, recently committed up to $750,000 over the next three years to startups coming out of these two programs.

Through its entrepreneurship programs, the Roux delivers on its mission to serve as an engine for economic impact in Maine and New England.