Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1027262
www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 17, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 19 Live at The Bushnell AN UNSCRIPTED, UNFORGETTABLE CONVERSATION LIFETIME PATRONS: Aetna | Connecticut Public Television and Radio | The Hartford Financial Services Group | Lincoln Financial Foundation The Rosalyn Group | Stanley Black & Decker | Travelers | United Technologies Corporation | Voya Financial For tickets and info CALL 860.509.0909 OR VISIT CTFORUM.ORG CECILE RICHARDS Outgoing President of Planned Parenthood, Activist ROXANE GAY Beloved writer & cultural critic, Author of Bad Feminist SALLIE KRAWCHECK CEO & Co-Founder of Ellevest, Wall Street Leader Moderator: ALISON STEWART Journalist/Author Hosted by: fit its Manufactory 4.0 space, the Stanley+Techstars accelerator space is up and running. Ten specially chosen startup participants are busy at com- puter screens reviewing or "beta test- ing" mockups of products and systems that could someday find their way to consumers. One of those is startup Mani.Me, launched by MBA students from California's Stanford University. Co- founder Jooyeon Song says Mani.Me is beta testing a potentially disrup- tive technology that could someday impact thousands of the nation's nail salons. Mani.Me hopes to one day market millions of custom-made fingernails directly to do-it-yourself fashionistas. Mani.Me's concept offers consumers an online catalog of paste-on nails that are custom made to fit wearers' indi- vidual fingers. Customers upload im- ages of their digits to Mani.Me, which manufactures each nail to precisely fit each finger, Song says. Stationed near Mani.Me is Struc- tur3D Printing, a tech startup launched five years ago by Canadian chemical engineer Charles Mire and his team from Toronto. Structur3D's beta model centers on 3D printing items, ranging from shoe-sole inserts and medical implants to aerospace components, using rubbery elasto- mers, like silicone, rather than more traditional plastics and metals. Mire, 45, Structur3D's CEO, says he chose Hartford because "Techstars has a fantastic reputation for helping growing small companies via net- working. Its partnership with Stanley was icing on the cake." With Stanley's technologists as his mentors, Mire says he "can learn a lot," including "how to set up your company for the long haul." Moreover, Stanley is a potential customer for its 3D-printing technology. Claudia Reuter, a Techstars manag- ing director, says her organization annually enrolls a select group of tech startups in its 13-week development program. Techstars stakes partici- pants with $6,000 to $18,000 to fund beta testing of new technologies and applications. Hartford, said Reuter, a West Hart- ford resident who launched and later sold a web-based education consul- tancy, offers "a great opportunity to create startup ecosystems. Ultimately, you can create a startup ecosystem in any city that connects to other ecosys- tems," say Boston and New York City. Come graduation Oct. 7, Techstars' first Hartford startup class will have the opportunity to pitch themselves and their technology or products to Wall Street investors, Reuter said. In addition, with Stanley having a first peek at them, some Techstars participants could well wind up as vendors, supplying products and services to the manufacturing giant, officials said. Aspiring Tech Startups These 10 startups are participating in the inaugural Stanley+Techstars Accelerator in downtown Hartford. Astroprint (California) – Developing cloud platform for 3D printing. Calt Dynamics (Ireland) – Developing decentralizing tech including 3D printers. Castor Technologies (Israel) – Developing the first intelligent 3D printing software for manufacturing. MetalMaker 3D (Canada) – Developing an affordable and scalable solution for metal additive manufacturing. Inventaprint (New York) – Hardware product development company. Kwambio (New York) – 3D printing company focused on ceramics. Mani.Me (California) – Developer of 3D-printed manicured finger nails. Micron3DP (Israel) – Developing high-speed 3D metal printers. NanoQuan (Canada) – Focused on unlocking nano-material potential to make plastics electrically conductive. Structur3D Printing (Canada) – Focused on enabling soft materials (beyond plastic filaments) 3D printing. Participants in the Stanley+Techstars Accelerator in downtown Hartford. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED