Dreamit Announces 2016 Cohort Of Startups

NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA, March 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading global startup accelerator Dreamit announced today the new cohort of companies accepted to its inaugural 2016 cycle. The 25 accepted companies, representing twice the number Dreamit has accelerated in previous cycles, will be the first class to participate in the newly evolved program.

The selected startups were chosen from an applicant pool of nearly 1,000 companies from over 40 countries based on metrics including the strength of the team, uniqueness of insights into the problems they are solving, and their capacity to revolutionize the industries in which they operate: healthcare and education.

"Dreamit set out to reimagine acceleration in a way that would create greater value for our startups, partners, and investors by breaking down barriers to innovation and attracting a broader range of entrepreneurs," said Dreamit CEO Avi Savar. "The 25 companies we are announcing, who are based all around the world and represent different stages of the startup lifecycle, are proof that we have succeeded. We are honored to welcome these incredibly talented and passionate founders into the Dreamit network."

Dreamit last year announced significant changes to its model to attract a more diverse cohort of startups, including later stage companies that have already received funding and would not typically consider an accelerator. Key upgrades include introducing a "Zero/Zero" offer to allow entrepreneurs to participate without giving up equity, removing the relocation requirement, and adding more customer touch points to allow startups to receive commercial validation and build out their pipelines earlier in the four month program. Additionally, instead of a traditional accelerator Demo Day, Dreamit will now curate targeted investor meetings for companies during a two week bi-coastal investor roadshow at the conclusion of the 16 weeks.

For the first time this year, accepted companies will begin their immersion into startup methodology at Destination Dreamit, a summit bringing together top VCs, Dreamit alumni, and industry thought leaders. The companies will then spend 16 weeks testing their assumptions, iterating their products, growing their pipelines, meeting customers, and interacting with their assigned mentors and advisors.

Dreamit Health, now entering its 4^th year of partnership with Penn Medicine and Independence Blue Cross, has added a new partnership with Zimmer Biomet this year as well as increased the number of startups in its cohort thanks to a prestigious Blackstone Innovation Grant. Dreamit EdTech, a new vertical leveraging the demonstrated success of an industry-focused model, is launching this year in partnership with Penn State University.

Dreamit Health and Dreamit EdTech will run simultaneously in New York and Philadelphia with companies participating remotely from Israel, Canada and Mexico. Dreamit is planning to roll out more verticals and innovation hubs later this year.

Dreamit Health 2016 Cycle I Companies

• Addicaid - Social tools for treating and preventing substance abuse and addiction.
• Admetsys - An artificial pancreas device that measures, models, and treats patients in real time.
• Cellepathy - Solving distracted driving and other connected-car problems by applying artificial intelligence to smartphone sensor data.
• CircleLinkHealth - Turn-key chronic care management and patient engagement to improve health and doctors' reimbursements.
• DNAsimple - An online DNA bank for researchers to have access to DNA samples from people from all over the world.
• InquisitHealth - Peer-to-peer mentoring to improve health outcomes for diabetes, pre-diabetes, asthma, HIV, and CKD.
• Keriton - Automates pumped breast milk management systems at neonatal ICUs.
• Kermit - The first collaborative spend management platform for hospitals and their surgeons.
• MedAware - Promoting patient safety by transforming large-scale medical data into actionable clinical knowledge.
• MedStack - An end-to-end development platform for the creation of integrated compliant healthcare apps.
• Neofluidics LLC - Next generation screening tools used by pharmaceutical companies for drug screening dramatically reducing development costs.
• Prevnos - Inventor of the world's first Hybrid Fusion FISH™ (fluorescence in situ hybridization) assays to screen for cancer prior to onset of disease.
• Somatix - Preventative behavioral health data-analytics software platform for smoking cessation, using big data derived from wearables.
• Suggestic - A lifestyle and nutrition GPS for diabetics, powered by artificial intelligence for deep personalization.
• Wellth - Behavioral economics meets healthcare. Works with healthcare payers to produce cost-saving behavior changes in members through science-based incentive plans.

Dreamit EdTech 2016 Cycle I Companies

• 101 - Mobile platform for STEM education combining traditional online homework software with automated tutoring to give students everything they need to master their courses in one place.
• CampusKudos - Provides universities and independent secondary schools with a private platform to drive professional connections within their communities.
• CampusESP - Helps colleges and universities leverage parent and family involvement to improve student success.
• Lessoncast - Teacher preparation & professional development, from teacher e-portfolios to community-created video libraries demonstrating key teaching practices.
• Prompt - Professor-quality feedback on the content and structure of writing, provided by subject experts and at an affordable price.
• Ruvna - An online platform making safer & smarter schools.
• Study Abroad Apartments - Easy, stress-free, reliable process to find accommodations abroad.
• StudyTree - Understanding how we consume and retain information by creating interactive scheduling of on-campus resources for students and a management analytics platform for institutions.   
• Tassl - A full package solution for driving alumni engagement for universities and alumni groups.
• University Beyond - Helping brands recruit, manage, and pay on-campus brand ambassadors.

About Dreamit
Ranked one of the top 10 accelerators in the world by Forbes and a top 20 most active venture investor by the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dreamit focuses on bringing the right people together to drive progressive innovation and real business velocity. Dreamit has launched over 220 startups that have gone on to raise in excess of $275M and are collectively worth in excess of $1B including LevelUp, SeatGeek, BioBots, Biomeme, Adaptly, Meerkat, and more.

Media Contacts
Charlotte Stone I Lyndsey Estin
Kekst
212-521-4800                         
[email protected] 
[email protected]

SOURCE Dreamit