Sprint seeks co-sponsors for next year’s startup accelerator program

Sprint Corp. has fulfilled its three-year commitment to its business startup accelerator in Kansas City and is looking for partners to help it sponsor next year’s program, CEO Marcelo Claure said Tuesday.

Claure announced the invitation to other corporate and civic sponsors at the Sprint Accelerator’s demonstration day event at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

“We’ve decided that we’re going to partner with other Kansas City-based companies in order to continue the momentum we’ve built with the accelerator,” Claure said at the event.

More sponsors would mean a larger program with greater impact. The Sprint Accelerator has brought 30 startups to Kansas City over its three-year run and some have stayed. Stride, one of this year’s accelerator startups, announced at the Tuesday event that it is moving its headquarters from Bangalore, India, to Kansas City effective immediately.

Claure cited several examples of how the startups and Sprint are working together. He said Sprint is running a pilot in Kansas City with SpaceView. The startup company’s augmented-reality platform can help the big wireless company improve layout, signage and similar decisions in its retail stores instantly.

“It’s been great for all the startups that participate in the program,” Claure said of the accelerator. “It’s been great for my company, and more importantly it’s been great for the Kansas City region.”

Claure’s announcement came amid Sprint’s effort to cut $2.5 billion in spending, for example ending its sponsorship of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, though he did not connect the two.

Tuesday’s presentations at the Kauffman Center capped an intensive 90-day program run by Techstars and intended literally to speed up the young companies’ development. The entrepreneurial teams worked with mentors, professionals, Sprint employees and one another.

Teams also connected with Kansas City’s startup community, like when SocialCapital made a presentation at a recent 1 Million Cups KC event.

Tuesday evening, the heads of each startup pitched the company’s story to an audience of potential investors, other entrepreneurs, professionals and area residents interested in entrepreneurship.

“It’s a shining example of how progressive Kansas City’s startup community continues to be,” said Kansas City resident Matthew Marcus, who has a startup of his own and attended the event. “I don’t have to go to New York to be part of something like this.”

This is the third demo day for Sprint’s business accelerator and the first open to any type of startup. Claure, who co-founded his own business in Miami and became a billionaire through its sale, announced the changed format at last year’s demo day.

Sprint had limited the first two classes to companies that combined mobile technology and health, producing demos from Sickweather, FitBark, Medicast and others in its first class.

Colorado-based Techstars runs 22 accelerators globally. Techstars said the 20 previous Sprint Accelerator companies had raised nearly $9.9 million and only one had failed.

The 10 companies that completed the program this year:

Backstitch, Detroit: Helps organizations deliver more relevant, accessible and actionable communications to employees, clients and partners.

Karmies, Denver: An innovative adtech platform that monetizes emojis by making them smart and branded.

Leka Smart Toys, Paris: Makes an interactive, multisensory robotic ball that greatly enhances therapy for special-needs children.

Mycroft, Lawrence: A voice-driven, open-source, artificial-intelligence platform for the home and elsewhere.

Nozzle, Lehi, Utah: A marketing analytics platform that provides on-demand customer acquisition reporting and timely alerts.

ResponsiveAds, New York: Reimagines the best possible fluid ad creatives for screen, user and context.

SocialCapital, San Francisco: Automatically generates accurate personality profiles by applying artificial intelligence to social and online behavior.

SpaceView, Portland, Ore.: A mobile augmented-reality platform that visualizes real-world products in virtual spaces.

Stride, Bangalore, India: Uses advanced sentiment analysis to enable businesses to translate their textual data into actionable insights.

Super Dispatch, Kansas City, Kan.: Enables automotive logistics companies to eliminate paperwork and manage loads, drivers and billing in one place.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 7:54 PM with the headline "Sprint seeks co-sponsors for next year’s startup accelerator program."