Blue Startups

Blue Startups is a Hawaii-based accelerator company co-founded by Henk Rogers, Maya Rogers and Chenoa Farnsworth in 2012 to help develop startup companies and a startup ecosystem in Hawaii. The company has a network of over 120 mentors from Hawaii, Silicon Valley, and Asia.

The accelerator operates a cohort program where the accelerator offers startup companies the opportunity to receive capital, training, and experience to grow their startup. The cohort program takes place annually, with programs that focus on developing "capital-efficient and scalable-technology companies" in the Internet, software, mobile, gaming, and e-commerce industries. Startups are selected from hundreds of applicants who receive an initial investment of $25,000, training, and office space in exchange for a 3% to 10% equity stake. Blue Startups is able to invest up to $300,000 in each startup.

History

Henk Rogers, Maya Rogers, and Chenoa Farnsworth co-founded Blue Startups on September 1, 2012 to provide tools and assistance to help companies and the Hawaiian business industry. In 2013, Chenoa Farnsworth was named the accelerators Managing Partner.

Program mentors include Henk Rogers, Robert Robinson, Steve Markowitz, Matt Johnston, Matt Miller, Joey Katzen, Paulette Jencks, Steve Pearman, Eric Bjorndahl, Don Dodge, Don Kosak, Eric Nakagawa, Faruq Ahmad, Marvin Liao, Peter Kay, Rob Bertholf, Steve Sue, Steven Baker, and Tina Fitch. Henk Rogers has assisted in the video game industry, particularly with respect to the puzzle video game ''Tetris''.

Blue Startups hosted a "digital lifestyle conference" from November 6–7, 2014, which was done to allow investors from Silicon Valley and Asia to "meet for deal making, learning and networking." The company took part in the 15th annual holiday tech fair, which was hosted at the Japanese Cultural Center in Honolulu by the High Technology Development Corporation on December 29, 2014.

Blue Startups was awarded $200,000 by the Hawaiian state government when it launched and has subsequently received additional funds totaling $1.7 million. The state of Hawaii requires matching funds, so Blue Startups has received approximately the same amount in private investments. State funding was given to Blue Startups as well as two other Hawaii-based startups by the Hawaii Strategic Development Corp.'s Launch Akamai Venture Accelerator program.

Cohort program

Blue Startups runs an annual cohort program which focuses on developing "capital-efficient and scalable-technology companies." These companies vary between Internet, software, mobile, gaming, and e-commerce companies. The majority of the three-month-long program offered by Blue Startups takes place in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, with a one-week follow-up in Silicon Valley, California. The mentoring cohorts occur twice per year, with up to 10 companies accepted into each session. Each company that participates in a cohort receives a seed investment, office space, a 3-month program consisting of entrepreneurial training, and more. Each participating company receives an initial investment of $25,000. The companies are each assigned personal mentors and meet at least once a week. In return, Blue Startups retains a 3% to 10% equity stake in each company. For a company to apply for a Blue Startups cohort, they must have two to four founders, with most of the team willing to live in Hawaii during the program. All companies must be incorporated as a C corp to be eligible. Teams are expected to work in the Blue Startups' space in downtown Honolulu for a minimum of five hours a day during the length of the cohort.

Blue Startups received over 100 applications and selected seven companies to participate in its first cohort in 2012.

Blue Startups notable alumni include AreaMetrics (cohort 6), Benja Commerce Network (cohort 5), FloWater (cohort 1), Leet (cohort 6), Sagely (cohort 4), Selly Automotive (cohort 4), and Volta (cohort 1).

Recognition

Tech Crunch listed Blue Startups as the 17th best startup accelerator in 2015. Blue Startups appeared on a list of the top 20 "America's top tech accelerators" by The Seed Accelerator Rankings Project, and was selected by Yael Hochberg, Susan Cohen, and Dan Fehder. The company ranked at number 17. It was selected among "150 accelerators, fixed-term, cohort-based programs." An editor for CNNMoney named Hawaii one of the top 10 most entrepreneurial states. In this article, the author cited companies like Blue Startups as an example of companies who are "mentoring an expanding network of Internet, software, mobile, and e-commerce firms." The company's services are valued at more than $500,000. ''Pacific Business News'' editor Stephanie Silverstein noted that while two other startup companies were having difficulties with money and management, Blue Startups was "off to a strong start." Brandon Bennett, CEO of Happy Hour Pal (one of the companies accepted into Blue Startups through its cohort program), praised Blue Startups for being accommodating to his company and noted that the business atmosphere between him and other startup owners was good. Sagely, one of the companies from Blue Startups' fourth cohort, stated that "the opportunities offered by Blue Startups would be impossible to do on your own." Blue Startups' first three cohorts, as of July 22, 2014, have managed to raise more than $6 million in investment capital. Business owner Arben Kryeziu seemed to have an "adamant" desire to fund companies that came out of Blue Startups' cohort programs, as noted by author Evan Nagle. Kryeziu noted that his business, which is similar to Blue Startups, will exist in the area to add to the Hawaiian startup efforts rather than compete in it.

See also

* Business incubator
* Seed accelerator

References

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External links

Official website for Blue Startups

American companies established in 2012
Startup accelerators
Companies based in Honolulu