OVERLAND PARK, Kan.,
March 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- Sprint (NYSE:S) and Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) today
announced the nine companies participating in the fifth annual
accelerator program, which launches today and continues through
June. The Sprint Accelerator is located in the heart of the
Crossroads Arts District in Kansas City,
Mo.
"We have a diverse and exciting group of companies joining our
program this year," said Doug
Dresslaer, Managing Director of the Sprint Accelerator. "For
Sprint, we've recruited companies that align with our IoT team's
core business strategies and for DFA, we've not only brought in
cutting-edge agricultural technology companies, but we also have
three dairy food product companies in this year's cohort.
"We are proud to support this year's class of cutting-edge
startups. Sprint has an ambitious vision for IoT and we look
forward to working alongside these companies to continue the
evolution of IoT technologies and solutions," said Ivo Rook, senior vice president of IoT for
Sprint.
"We've found tremendous value in this program and leveraging
innovation that's happening with startup companies in the ag tech
space," said Kevin Strathman, senior
vice president of finance at Dairy Farmers of America. "For year
two, we're focused not only on building partnerships that can help
solve problems and benefit our members on their farms, but it's
exciting to add dairy food startups into the mix. We're looking
forward to working with these companies to help grow their
businesses and ultimately drive consumer demand for dairy."
The Corporate Accelerator is a 90-day, immersive program.
Startups in each vertical — IoT, Ag Tech and Dairy Food Products—
will work directly with leaders from Sprint, DFA and CoBank as well
as other industry experts and mentors.
Visit the Sprint Accelerator calendar for public opportunities
to engage with these companies at sprintaccelerator.com.
The 2018 Class of the Corporate Accelerator
IoT Vertical Participants
- Keybot from St. Louis,
Mo. Keybot helps automate rental access with proprietary
keypad lock and app through self-showings and renter and
maintenance access.
- Luxe Concierge from Kansas City,
Mo. The Luxe mobile app allows apartment residents
to book and manage services like housekeeping, dog walking and dry
cleaning pick up.
- Sofihub from Melbourne,
Australia. Sofihub is a digital assisted living solution
using Artificial Intelligence and sensor technology to support
seniors to live independently.
AgTech Vertical Participants
- Pharm Robotics from San Jacinto,
Calif. Pharm Robotics is developing robotic systems to
automate administration of animal health products in dairy
cows.
- Ripe Technologies from San
Francisco, Calif. Ripe is transforming the food supply
chain using blockchain technology to enable data transparency, so
we know where our food is from and what has happened to
it.
- SomaDetect from Fredericton, Canada. SomaDetect is a precision-dairy
company that is creating an in-line system for measuring every
compound of interest in raw milk, including fat, protein, somatic
cells, progesterone and trace antibiotics.
Dairy Food Product Vertical Participants
- Cheddies from San Antonio,
Texas. Cheddies aims to provide all consumers with a
cheese cracker that has added nutritional benefits. These benefits
include 10g of protein, 12g of carbohydrates, no artificial flavors
or colors and 0g of sugar.
- MoPro Nutrition from Birmingham,
Mich. MoPro is the first Greek yogurt infused with
CFM Whey Protein Isolate that contains 24 grams of protein per
serving and is low in sugar.
- Too Cool Chix from New York,
N.Y. Too Cool Chix creates delicious, all-natural
ice cream sandwiches free of artificial ingredients and stabilizing
gums.
About Sprint and its Support for
Entrepreneurship:
Sprint has a strong history of working
with startups in Silicon Valley, Kansas
City and around the globe, helping young companies navigate
the corporate world and build momentum behind their new businesses.
Sprint is committed to supporting the entrepreneurial movement
across the country, delivering new business opportunities, and
spurring the startup spirit within the company. In 2014, Sprint
opened the award-winning Sprint Accelerator in Kansas City – home of the Corporate
Accelerator. The accelerator space is used to deliver year-round
programming, including mentor engagement, STEM programs,
entrepreneurial community collaboration, and community coworking
space.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications
services company that creates more and better ways to connect
its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint
served 59.5 million connections as of Dec.
31, 2016 and is widely recognized for developing,
engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the
first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands
including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost
Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international
push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone.
Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI)
North America for the past five
years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or
www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
About Dairy Farmers of America:
Dairy Farmers of
America (DFA) is a farmer-owned cooperative representing 8,000
family dairy farms across the United
States. DFA is committed to providing value to its
farmer-owners through marketing members' milk, providing services
and resources on the farm and connecting our family farms with
plants and brands such as Borden® Cheese, Plugrá® Butter and Kemps®
to name a few. For more information, call 1-888-DFA-MILK (332-6455)
or visit dfamilk.com.
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SOURCE Sprint