Hartford Business Journal

ton was at least partly an effort to more easily attract a younger, tech- savvy workforce, which Connecticut — without a magnet city — has traditionally lacked. It's no secret that younger people over the years have left the state at a high rate, although the COVID-19 pandemic does offer Hartford an opportunity as more people flee densely populated cities like New York for a more suburban lifestyle. Establishing a vibrant startup scene in and around Hartford could bring in younger people with disposable incomes, which creates demand for things like new restaurants and other revenue-generating amenities, Cantor said. It also would provide major corpo- rations here with a pool of innovative small companies with whom they can partner or acquire amid an ongoing technological revolution in most in- dustries, particularly insurance, health care and advanced manufacturing Unique opportunity Many vibrant U.S. cities have been on the innovation bandwagon for awhile, but Hartford is in the very early stages. "Three years ago in Hartford it was a desert," Schlossberg said. However, the growing prevalence of startup accelerators is helping to change that. The Upward Labs accelera- tor last year started recruiting to Hartford companies focused on age-tech and smart buildings. Meanwhile, toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker partnered with London- based global startup accelerator Startupbootcamp to establish the Stanley+Techstars accelerator, which focuses on advanced manufacturing startups. There's also Hartford InsurTech Hub — run by Startupboot- camp — and Digital HealthCT, spon- sored by Hart- ford HealthCare and focused on medical-technology startups. Each accelerator has different focus areas and goals. Stanley+Techstars is looking for companies conducive to Stanley's business, while InsurTech Hub brings start- ups that could work with major Hartford insur- ance companies. There's also the nonprofit ac- celerator reSET, which works with local socially-conscious startups in its Parkville offices. In the last three years, 40 startups from outside the state have set up operations in Hartford, said Michelle Cote, director of Launch[H]artford, a nonprofit that works as a go-between for startups, government officials and corporations in the city. Many of those startups either came to Hart- ford to participate in an accelerator, or after hearing positive reviews from entrepreneurs who had. Sanjay Poojary, CEO of Los Ange- les-based Saya Life, is opening an office in Hartford after participating in the Upward Labs accelerator. Saya Life makes a hardware platform for buildings that detects water behavior (i.e. flow and leaks from pipes) and constantly posts updates to a cloud server, enabling building manag- ers to avoid things like pipe bursts before they happen. A city that's home to property and casualty insur- ers like The Hartford and Hartford Steam Boiler is rich with prospective customers, Poojary said. "It's a unique opportunity for us to be working with all the major play- ers," said Poojary, who is in regular contact with companies like Travel- ers and Nassau Re. Saya Life, which now employs three interns from the University These accelerators focus on grooming local startups By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusienss.com S tartup accelerators have proven to be an important way to attract global startups to Hartford, but some are more interested in building up entrepre- neurs within their communities. Since 2007, reSET has focused its ef- forts on boosting local startups intent on grappling with specific societal problems like sustainable garbage dis- posal and poverty, said Sarah Brodley, the nonprofit's executive director. "We're really prioritizing our re- cruitment in Hartford, we're not ac- tively recruiting companies to move here from out of state," Brodley said. "Our belief is the people closest to the problems are the people with solutions to the problems." ReSET provides services to about 200 companies per year, and 112 have gone through its three-month "Impact Accelerator" program since it was established in 2013. For example, one of the compa- nies working out of reSET's office in Hartford's Parkville neighbor- hood is Engagement Solutions, which makes a digital platform that links people to public ser- vices like food stamps and other programs. Another, Blue Earth Compost, is a Hartford-based startup that collects food scraps from about 400 residential and commercial customers in Greater Hartford, and then uses a natu- ral recycling process to turn the scraps into nutrient-rich compost that it delivers back to customers. Brodley points to companies like Ben & Jerry's and Patagonia as evi- dence that socially-conscious busi- nesses can be financially successful. And reSET is primarily concerned with backing homegrown entre- preneurs, offering a unique part of Hartford's startup scene. "I think there's plenty of room for all of us, and I think there's a chance for each of us to be very specific and clear about our goals," she said. Meanwhile, in Farming- ton, UConn's Technol- ogy Incubation Program has been hosting startups since 2003. The 45 start- ups currently working out of TIP's labs and offices in Farmington and Storrs raised more than $263 mil- lion in 2019, said Mostafa Analoui, who leads the program and is the college's executive director of ven- ture development. TIP provides companies with guid- ance from 11 executives-in-residence, who can give entrepreneurs advice on anything from issues with the product they're making to business leads. While TIP companies often have ties to UConn, the program is open to all entrepreneurs, as long as their company has a serious business model, Analoui said. "They have to be companies with a clear business plan," Analoui said. TIP companies range from VetiVax, which is testing a cancer vaccine for dogs, to Savkar Inc., which is working on a remote-learning platform called Stemify that uses artificial intel- ligence to customize individual cur- ricula in STEM subjects for students. While TIP companies don't make up a huge portion of startup activ- ity in Greater Hartford, UConn's Technology Incubation Program has created nearly 200 jobs in Con- necticut, Analoui said. "If you look at the broader picture of the state, I'd say TIP is a smaller player, but it's making a relevant contribution," Analoui said. Hartford's startup accelerator programs Stanley+Techstars: Focuses on additive manufacturing startups; run by Stanley Black & Decker and Startupbootcamp. Upward Labs: Focuses on startups making products for the age-tech and smart-building sectors. reSET Impact Accelerator: Focuses on local entrepreneurs intent on solving societal issues. Digital HealthCT: Hartford HealthCare's program for med- tech startups. Hartford InsurTech Hub: Focuses on insurtech startups; run by Startupbootcamp. Nassau Re/Imagine: Nassau Re's incubator program focuses on companies making products for the life insurance, annuity and reinsurance industries. UConn Technology Incubation Pro- gram (TIP): Run by UConn and pro- vides working space and resources to companies in a variety of fields. Mostafa Analoui, executive director of venture development at UConn, speaks with scientists at UConn's TIP program in Farmington. PHOTO | PETER MORENUS/UCONN Sarah Brodley, Executive Director, reSET Continued on page 12 >> www.HartfordBusiness.com • November 16, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 11 Michael Cantor, Board Chair, Connecticut Innovations Michelle Cote, Director, Launch[H]artford

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