Cox Enterprises Social Impact Accelerator Powered by Techstars Announces 2022 Class

Ten companies making an impact on underrepresented groups, communities and the environment selected

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Jan 24, 2022, 13:01 ET

ATLANTA, Jan. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Cox Enterprises Social Impact Accelerator powered by Techstars announced its third class. The three-month program will provide hands-on mentoring, funding and global connections to 10 for-profit, mission-driven companies.

Strategic mentorships with Cox business leaders and experts will help bring the entrepreneurs' ideas to market and boost their early-stage businesses, grow their networks and prepare them to pitch their companies at a Demo Day presentation on April 21.

"After an incredible year of focusing on companies tackling social injustice and systemic racism, we have once again broadened our scope of impact," said Barry Givens, managing director of the program. "As we sourced for this program, we searched for companies making a positive impact on underrepresented groups, underserved communities and environmental sustainability."

This class of changemakers was selected out of hundreds of applications from a diverse set of founders who are solving some of the world's biggest challenges:

Cleantech and sustainability
Edtech, training and workforce development
Health and wellness
Economic empowerment
Social good and community development

"Solving environmental and community challenges is the future of business," said Maury Wolfe, assistant vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Affairs at Cox Enterprises. "Helping entrepreneurs succeed by scaling for impact, while building companies and products that matter, will continue to drive innovation and be a force for good."

The 2022 Social Impact Accelerator class includes:

ConConnect: A networking platform geared at advancing formerly incarcerated individuals by modernizing the way they access services, resources and are viewed by fair chance employers.
Dreami: A web application that provides an end-to-end solution for launching, maintaining, tracking and scaling career mentorship.
Masa: A digital marketplace platform for locals to sell and buy fresh goods directly from one another with just a few clicks.
Mini City: Provides technology solutions to help our nation's homeless obtain identification and connect to much needed benefits, like housing, government assistance and employment.
Regó: AI-powered technology that prevents useable furniture from ending up in landfills or dumped on the street.
SenseGrass: A soil intelligence platform that combines AI-based recommendations and soil sensors to deliver real-time soil health analyses and targeted nutrient management.
Vertru: Uses advanced technology to monitor and predict supply chain sustainability risk.
WeChipN: A marketing platform that hosts socially good campaigns that are funded by companies and promoted by everyday people.
WellMiss: A femtech, modern wellness startup that provides women on-demand access to centralized holistic 360-degree integrative wellness care.
Wundergrubs: An agtech start-up that uses IoT technology to sustainably grow and harvest organically fed human-grade edible insects.

The Social Impact Accelerator is the second accelerator in partnership between Techstars and Cox Enterprises. Cox also funds and supports startups and entrepreneurs through other Atlanta-based partnerships, including Techstars Atlanta, Engage, Endeavor and Startup Runway.

For more information about Cox Enterprises' involvement in the venture ecosystem, visit www.coxenterprises.com/innovation.

About Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is dedicated to building a better future through our leading communications, automotive and media companies. Our major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Automotive, and we are strategically investing in new industries and emerging technologies, with sizeable interests in clean technology and health care. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Cox is a global company with $20 billion in annual revenues and brands that include Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book and Cox Homelife. Founded in 1898 by Ohio Governor James M. Cox, the company is a family-owned business committed to its people, communities and planet. To learn more about Cox, visit coxenterprises.com, view our collective impact report at coxcsrreport.com, or follow us on Twitter via @CoxEnterprises or @AlexTaylor_Cox.

SOURCE Cox Enterprises