Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • April 8, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS: Startups & Entrepreneurs MakerspaceCT is Hartford's latest entrepreneurial incubator Q&A talks with Devra Sisitsky, executive director of MakerspaceCT. Q. Your 20,000-square-foot Maker- spaceCT facility is set to debut April 13 in the basement of the historic G. Fox building, 960 Main St. For those who aren't familiar with what a makerspace is, can you tell us what it is and involves? A. We are incredibly proud to be the largest makerspace in Connecticut, and the second largest in New Eng- land. Makerspaces are dedicated to helping makers, designers, creators and entrepreneurs bring their vision of a new product to fruition — trans- lating an idea into a tangible, manu- factured item. Nationally, the 'Maker Movement' fuels reinvigorated manufacturing, making tools for designing and build- ing something readily available. The American resurgence in do-it- yourself (DIY) activities include elec- tronics, robotics, 3D printers and scan- ners, laser cutters, CNC machines, tools, metalworking, woodworking and more traditional arts and crafts, all of which can find a home at MakerspaceCT. The movement is also sparking renewed interest among students and adults in STEAM learning (science, technology, engineering, arts, math), and is a catalyst for new businesses and business expansion. The ripple effect has also become apparent, be- cause once these maker products get launched, the new company needs all kinds of support — logistics, packag- ing, marketing, financial and legal services, and so on. Q. Who are you hoping to attract to MakerspaceCT? What is your busi- ness model? A. MakerspaceCT will attract entre- preneurs, innovators, students, hobby- ists, artists and manufacturers, all those with curiosity to learn a skill like weld- ing, woodworking, 3D printing, comput- Devra Sisitsky Executive Director, MakerspaceCT By Liese Klein Special to the Hartford Business Journal B efore this year's crop of Hartford InsurTech Hub startups even got to town in February, meetings were already happening — entrepreneurs from across the world were pitching their products to local insurance executives. The startups had their eyes on the prize: partnerships to develop technol- ogy with the potential to transform the city's insurance industry. The 10 startups in the Hartford InsurTech Hub's second annual class hail from seven countries and were winnowed from 232 applicants. All are taking part in a three-month accelera- tor in Hartford run by London-based Startupbootcamp, in collaboration with major insurers, including Cigna, The Hartford and Aetna. Working with feedback from the first year of the program, organizers made sure to fast-track paperwork to allow the 2019 class of startups to get early access to key players in the city's insurance industry. "The speed at which the insurers are engaging has definitely accelerated this year over last year because of that proac- tive approach," said Dawn LeBlanc, Hart- ford InsurTech Hub's managing director. This year's class of InsurTech startups also expands the scope of the program, with companies offering technology in the commercial property-insur- ance space for the first time, LeBlanc said. Hartford- area insurers are also more eager to engage with the startups after a successful first year of the pro- gram, she added. "I think the com- munity was hun- gry for this type of thing," LeBlanc said. Here's a look at a few of the insurtech startups currently honing their technol- ogy in Hartford: CareValidate Is that nice person you hired to take care of your parent really doing the job? Sure, you could install cameras and spend hours reviewing footage, but InsurTech Hub startup CareVali- date has a better solution — one you can simply screw into any light socket. The company's SafeLight is a "smart light bulb" packed with ultra-wideband radar, sound and light sensors that can monitor a wide range of activities in a home or care facility. Software powered by machine learning analyzes the sen- sor data and sends alerts if an incident like a fall is detected — or if a caregiver is spending all day on the couch. "You just screw in the light bulb and you'll be able to get continuous monitor- ing and predictive analytics," said Jay Pugliese, co-founder and vice president of business development at Atlanta- based CareValidate. Unlike wearable technology, the bulb is also always in ser- vice, even when lights are switched off. Pugliese said he and the other CareVali- date co-founders all had personal experi- ence with the challenges of elder care and saw the potential of sensor technology. An earlier version of their product that mounted on a wall proved to be too costly for widespread adoption, so they "lit" on the idea of a smart light bulb. In addition to convenience and ease of installation, SafeLight offers a level of privacy as it doesn't capture video or images. "We wanted something that grand- ma would be fine with having on all the time," Pugliese said. For CareValidate, part of the value proposition for the Hartford InsurTech Hub program has been access to both major insurers and state and local of- ficials, Pugliese said. "Potentially, we want to be a fraud, waste and abuse tool for government," Pugliese said. "The experience so far has been fantastic, we've had a lot of connectivity to not only insurers but local government agencies." He added: "Our intention is to stay in Hartford and build an arm of our business here." See Your Box When a Sicilian museum needed to Honing Technology Latest Hartford accelerator startups aim to transform insurance industry Dawn LeBlanc, Managing Director, Hartford InsurTech Hub Entrepreneurs from 10 insurance-technologuy startups (shown above in a strategy session) are in Hartford participating in the second annual Hartford InsurTech Hub accelerator program, which lasts three months through April. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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