Betaspring

Betaspring’s 2012 spring session is heating up and 16 companies from across the country are readying to greet the local community at our Open House on Thursday, March 8.  The sold out event has attracted ~300 registrants, who’ll have the chance to interact with the companies and enjoy a special visit from Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, and RIEDC Executive Director Keith Stokes. 

This is the first Open House that Betaspring will host in our new 95 Chestnut headquarters. Ken Hecht, who purchased the six story Russell Irons building from bankruptcy and is taking steps to revitalize the property,  will also be with us on Thursday to celebrate. The move to 95 Chestnut was an important part of Betaspring's 2012 expansion and will provide the space to more than double the number of companies Betaspring launches each year. 

The companies arrived on February 6 and hit the ground running. Continuing through early May, the 16 teams, along with a total of 41 founders and employees, will be in the Betaspring house. Expansion into 95 Chestnut also allows us to offer graduating companies an additional 10 weeks of free office space, an option especially helpful to companies contemplating permanent re-location to Rhode Island.

The Spring 2012 Betaspring companies include:

--121Nexus helps political leaders and campaign managers create personalized connections with constituents and deliver highly relevant digital content via web and mobile.

--Autoshag enables car buyers to purchase used cars directly from dealer auto auctions at significant savings.

--Care Thread's real-time, patient-centered communications platform for web and mobile improves communication and collaboration for medical teams -- saving time, money, and lives.

--GBooking is a web platform for search, comparison and booking for services that uses stochastic algorithms for resource optimization of service providers.

--JumpOffCampus streamlines the off-campus housing experience for students, landlords, and universities.

--Kay McGowan: A Curated World is an online retailer of handcrafted home and luxury goods sourced from the hottest international destinations.  A Curated World uses the power and authenticity of video to share stories of handmade goods across a global community.  

--LessonWriter automatically turns today’s media content into structured lesson plans for classroom teachers, bringing the world into your textbook.

--Moveable Code is building the “Hasbro of Mobile,” combining deep knowledge of play and technology to create a portfolio of engaging products for carefully targeted audiences.

--Prepmatic test prep tools dramatically increase standardized test scores through a fun, proven approach to memorization.

--RecoVend is saving universities time and money by streamlining their purchasing process through a collaborative suite of decision-making tools, a digital RFP marketplace and powerful analytics that lower costs and increase efficiency.

--Socialping provides real-time Twitter analytics, account management and compliance solutions to businesses.

--Splitwise enables roommates, friends, and other groups to quickly and automatically track and calculate expenses in sensitive cost-sharing situations.

--Sproutel creates interactive teaching toys to help children diagnosed with a chronic illness cope with their disease.

--Thryve helps people live healthier by easily tracking the connection between the food we eat and the way we feel.

--Thumbs Up is creating a platform that lets viewers rate TV moments in real time and see how their friends are rating those same moments.

--TwoBolt’s marketing platform enables businesses to build, launch and manage their own multi-channel marketing campaigns without hiring an agency.

Additionally, we officially kicked off our Alumni-in-Residence program this year, welcoming StudyEgg and Mosec, both alums of the Summer 2011 program, into the space for the spring session.

Some Fun Facts about the Teams:

• Companies are here representing from Boston, Providence, Sacramento, San Francisco, Milwaukee, New Haven, New Jersey, Chicago, New York City, Worcester, and Tel Aviv. 

• This spring session’s CEOs are a diverse group, with the youngest in their early 20s and several over 40.

• Hannah Chung, CTO of Sproutel, was recently named one of “15 Women to Watch” by Inc. Magazine.

• Splitwise CEO Jon Bittner was named 30 Under 30 by Forbes Magazine in 2012.

• GBooking recently received an investment from Yandex, the Google of Russia. 

• Several of the companies are already selling in the marketplace, with tens of thousands of users.

We look forward to showcasing the companies' progress later this spring through a series of demos and events.