We are proud to honor the past participants of Catalyze CU. Startups have used the program to springboard into leading accelerator programs such as Techstars, develop ideas through NSF I-Corps, raise investment rounds and get acquired.
Participation Year
All
Artimus Robotics
Artimus Robotics provides lifelike motion for the next generation of robotics and automation. With its breakthrough technology, HASEL artificial muscles, they research, develop and manufacture critical motion components for various industries ranging from defense to entertainment. The technology was conceived by Professor Christoph Keplinger as a way to combine the best attributes of two prior soft actuator technologies, soft fluidic actuators and dielectric elastomer actuators, while mitigating downfalls of both technologies. After showcasing its technology to the world press and receiving a wave of industry interest, Artimus has been working to identify which markets to bring our technology to first.
Big Blue Technologies
Big Blue Technologies manufactures energy-efficient, cost-competitive light metals and ceramics. Their unique high temperature chemical processing technology, patent-pending reactor and process designs enhances domestic production.
Birk
Blade Aid
CarePenguin
CarePenguin brings peace of mind to families with elderly loved ones living independently through non-invasively and inexpensively monitoring their well being by detecting anomalies in their water usage patterns.
Congo
Congo members were the inspiration behind the now famous “Most Spirited Team” award given annually at Demo Day. They created a platform to connect lawyers with those in need of legal help, perfecting scheduling software and building relationships in the legal community. The team earned angel funding after the program, moved on to the Capital Factory accelerator in Austin, TX, transitioned their company to JustLegal, and were acquired by DigitalTown in December 2017.
EdBoard
EdBoard makes it easy to learn about electronics with their low-cost breadboard for use in the home or the classroom. Teachers or parents can change the EdBoard design in seconds, creating a fun way for children to build new circuits and spark their creativity. The company was a finalist in New Venture Challenge 12.
Flutter Scholarships
Flutter Scholarships came in to Catalyze CU with a passion for making the search for scholarships and grants to pay for college easier and more efficient. They created a common platform where scholarship providers can manage and promote their application and scholarship applicants can fill out their basic information only once while being made aware of the myriad of scholarship opportunities for which they may be qualified.
Give and Go Film
Give and Go Film became part of Catalyze CU after they won New Venture Challenge 9. The team was comprised of a business student and two computer science students. They created an automated video editing service for basketball coaches that allows them to edit games 72x faster than existing software.
Glimpse
Glimpse is a team that came out of the computer science entrepreneurial capstone course. They created a social app that allows users to explore the world while supporting local residents. They encouraged travel as a way to connect the world and decrease the lack of understanding that spurs conflict and negativity in the world.
Hearth
Every home has rooms that either run too hot or too cold for comfort. Hearth is solving this problem with a smart vent system that allows you to control airflow throughout the home, giving you personalized comfort through room by room temperature control.
HiveTech Solutions
HiveTech Solutions joined Catalyze CU after winning New Venture Challenge 8. They created a hive monitoring and management technology that will help beekeepers and agricultural operations improve bee surival rates and manage larger populations with increased efficiency. They design smart beehives as well as gather the data collected. They were awarded an NSF-sponsored SBIR grant in spring 2017.
Hyperskn (formerly Chromapraxis)
Hyperskn enables tattoo artists to pioneer a new form of body art as dynamic as the body itself with adaptive, color-changing tattoo pigments.
informu
informu created a small, connected device that attaches to your valuables, preventing loss. After finishing Catalyze CU, they staged a successful Kickstarter campaign. inFormu was founded by Lang Mei and Rishabh Berlia, alums from the Leeds School of Business and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, respectively. They've continually improved their product and manufacturing processes to earn angel investment in December 2017.
Internalyze (now Gritly)
Internalyze (now Gritly) is a 12-week online sales and emotional intelligence bootcamp, built to help underrepresented communities break into sales in high-demand industries without prior experience, while increasing diversity within their partner companies.
Kegstand
Kegstand designed the keg of the future, offering kegs that are 40% lighter than the traditional keg to help cut down distribution costs and reduce environmental impacts, while designed with preserving beer quality in mind. The company participated in New Venture Challenge 12 and 14.
Kitables
Kitables creates and sells kits to aspiring and established makers, bringing them the confidence to build bigger and better. From a lego drone to a solar USB charger to a ukulele, their kits are suitable for kids of all ages and abilities. They received angel investment soon after Demo Day and continue to sell retail and B2B kits retail from their Boulder headquarters.
Latimer Controls
Latimer Controls provides a control system for utility-scale solar power to stabilize intermittent power output. This allows commercial solar to mimic the reliability of coal and natural gas plants that are traditionally favorable for power grid operators.
LoopSketch
LoopSketch is a collaborative software platform that makes it easy for musicians, producers and beat makers all over the world to connect, create music together, and publish content to a central marketplace. Users build songs together remotely by recording, sharing and layering loops of music with each other in real-time, capturing the feeling and flow of an in-person session, without having to worry about latency.
Magneta
Magneta aims to help predict how much a business should pay a creator to produce sponsored content, helping both parties get the best deal possible. The company got the idea from a podcast called "Hello Internet" where two YouTubers who make educational content talk about what it’s like being a creator.
Mallinda, Inc.
Mallinda is an industry-leading developer of malleable thermoset and composite technologies that enable materials’ moldability, rehealability and recyclability. They were the winners of New Venture Challenge 6.
MindScribe
MindScribe combines principles of early childhood education, neuroscience and computer science to create an engaging experience and help young children learn, develop and retain language skills. The MindScribe team have already been testing their product in schools and childcare centers in Colorado, California and even Japan.
Myra Makes
Myra Makes inspires future problem solvers by creating fun, educational products with adventure-based challenges. Their first product is an activity book which follows the adventures of Myra, the company's namesake. Throughout the program, they leveraged the opportunities to improve marketing and printing processes, even getting their product into stores and onto Amazon. They also collaborated with CU's Science Discovery to teach summer kids camps.
Noble Roots Kitchen
Noble Roots Kitchen is a healthy snack company with a local impact. In addition to selling snack boxes with local, healthy and allergy-friendly food to businesses, they also work with local non-profits to address the issue of food deserts, bringing affordable and healthy food options to families around Colorado.
NoEstra
NoEstra was founded by two undergraduate level students in integrated physiology with a specialty in endocrinology. They addressed the growing prevalence of pharmaceutical waste, especially estrogen, in our nation's drinking water. They proposed a solution akin to a Brita filter that removes such waste from drinking water. After a strong customer discovery phase, the team realized the importance of education and awareness of the issue as a more appropriate place to start.
PAIR Virtual Stylist
PAIR Virtual Stylist is an artificially intelligent personal stylist in your pocket, coming soon to your mobile device! PAIR's data-driven affiliate marketing platform significantly increases conversion rates for fashion companies by personalizing its AI Stylist to your style. PAIR participated in New Venture Challenge 12.
Pastificio
Pastificio produces traditional, artisan Italian pasta using organic and heirloom grains. They believe in quality food as a means of connecting people and inspiring them to slow dow, share and enjoy life with community, family and friends.
Qualify
Qualify was founded by two CU undergraduates who envisioned a dating app just for college students. The app gamifies mobile dating by prompting users to create questions and message those who pass. The team made great progress and had over 30,000 surveys completed in a 3-month period before the program started. In the fall of 2016, they won the Boulder Chamber of Commerce Esprit Venture Challenge.
Quoala Code
Quality assurance during mobile app development can be like a game of whack-a-mole, always trying to find new bugs before pushing your application live, so you’re not bombarded with negative reviews. Quoala Code makes QA safe and simple using their machine learning platform for bug detection, saving time and money for mobile developers.
ReForm
ReForm makes wearing a prosthetic leg more comfortable with less time and money. The business grew out of the experiences of Madie Kern, BS, MS, and PhD graduate of CU Boulder. During her time in South Africa working with amputees, it became clear that there were opportunities for improvement in the world of fitting lower-limb prosthetics. ReForm placed second in New Venture Challenge 9, winning the Audience Choice award, the Women's Entrepreneurship Prize, the Social Impact Prize, and the R&D Track Finals.
Sarus Lifting
Sarus Lifting creates software that streamlines the crane operation planning process for heavy lifting contractors and construction companies, saving them hundreds of hours per year and enabling them to execute with consistency and safety.
ShineOn
ShineOn is an outdoor product design firm that aims to make all people feel safe on bikes. The company has pioneered a revolutionary dual beam lighting technology that illuminates the biker as well as the road ahead, ensuring motorists and other cyclists can see you from afar. ShineOn also participated in New Venture Challenge 11 and 12, while actively contributing to the CU Boulder innovation ecosystem and the CU Startup Club.
Shinesty
Shinesty sells clothing that your mom would hate. Ugly Christmas sweaters are just the beginning. They evolved from selling foraged used clothing to designing and manufacturing original pieces. As featured in a 2017 MTV documentary, the Shinesty team authentically keeps to their over the top message. They have been wildly successful and remain a Boulder company.
ShoeSense Running
The ShoeSense Pod is a reusable, scientifically-proven device that enables you to accurately know when your shoes are worn out. The Pod helps elite runners avoid injury and facilitates peak performance. ShoeSense was founded by Connor Winter, CU Boulder mechanical engineering alum and CU cross-country runner. Since finishing the program, ShoeSense continues development through a collaboration with Design Center Colorado.
Silk by Laura
Social Dynamic
Social Dynamic is a start-up founded by a team of experts in marketing, growth hacking, start-up strategy, website development, graphic design, media creation, film production and social design.
Soulutions Tech
Soulutions Tech is developing a low-profile, easy to use, and readily accessible medical device to support people affected by hypophonia in the Parkinson's Disease community. The company was a finalist in New Venture Challenge 12.
Specdrums
Specdrums creates a collaborative musical experience with a wearable device that allows you to tap on different colors to produce a variety of sounds. The founder, Steven Dourmashkin, and his team used their time at Catalyze CU to build a strong network in the Boulder community. They used the Idea Forge facilities to further fabrication of their rings. At Demo Day, Specdrums announced their plans for a fall Kickstarter campaign in which they earned over 900% more than their target. Specdrums was later acquired by Sphero in 2018.
Spore Notes
Spore Notes is the fastest way to capture inspiration. Designed for business, Spore offers lightning fast notes anddecision-free organization and can integrate with all of your favorite tools.
Stateless
Stateless' software platform enables enterprises and service providers (cloud MSP, colocation and network providers) to easily define and build a portfolio of elegant multi-hybrid cloud connectivity solutions. Stateless was founded by CU Boulder PhD student Murad Kablan and Professor Eric Keller from the Department of Electrical, Energy, and Computer Engineering. After beginning their commercialization journey through Catalyze CU, they moved on to the NSF I-Corps program and the spring 2017 class of Techstars Boulder. In December 2017, they completed a $1.4 million seed round.
StrideTech
StrideTech is a company innovating for safer senior care by bringing research-backed solutions to reality. Their first product, StrideTech Go, is a technology embedded walker attachment that provides real-time haptic feedback when incorrect walker use is detected, empowering aging adults to learn and maintain correct mobility device use. StrideTech Go has been developed through two CU Boulder courses (GEEN 3400 and Senior Design) and one club (Design for America), making a total of nine credits of coursework dedicated to building this company across 11 different students over two years.
Sun Milk
Sun Milk (formerly Boulder Sun) makes natural food products using sunflower seeds. Their first product is sunflower seed milk, a vegan and allergen-free treat that saves water during the growing and harvesting process. They have their product on the shelves in stores around the Boulder area.
SWFT
SWFT is the most efficient way to find the sneakers you want at a price you love. Designed to bring together after-market sneaker listings from all the top sources on the web, so you always know you’re getting the best deal.
The Space Research Company
The Space Research Company promotes research and innovation in space through their small satellite biological research platform. Researchers wishing to run experiments in space contract with The Space Research Company (TSRCo) to plan, create, and launch their experiments. TSRCo facilitates collaboration with space agencies to streamline the process. Founded by a CU PhD graduate in bioastronautics, TSRCo placed in New Venture Challenge 8 and has won various Space Startup Weekends.
Thrift/ed
Thrift/ed is an online thrift store designed for individual college campuses that allows students to buy and sell clothing, furniture, textbooks, and more with other students at their school, all while staying safe, environmentally friendly and fiscally responsible. The team competed in New Venture Challenge 11.
Tic-Click
Trio Care
Trio Care is a software platform that enables in-home caregivers to manage care plans and communication between care teams and the adult children of seniors. The company aims to alleviate stress, streamline communication and lead to better family and caregiver decision-making.
Uzio
The way that farmers protect their livestock hasn’t changed in hundreds of years—it’s still a fence that the farmer hopes stays secure throughout wind and storms. Uzio has developed a solar-powered electric fence for farmers that keeps them send push notifications to let them know when animals are touching the fence or if the fence falls over during a storm. Uzio's system is a more environmentally sustainable approach to raising livestock—it's simple to use and move, making it easier for farmers to do rotational grazing.
V.I.Teacher
V.I.Teacher creates a platform for parents and businesses to recognize teachers using gifts and rewards at local businesses. To do this, V.I.Teacher has created a credit card for teachers that they use at participating businesses. When they do, they are awarded a "giveback" from the business for a certain percentage of their purchase. They have made progress in signing on Boulder businesses and launched their card in Fall 2017.