Timothy Baynes told the News-Leader Friday that when most people think about the “startup ecosystem” for tech companies, they associate sources of early capital investment with places like Boston and Silicon Valley.
But Baynes, CEO of a Springfield-based startup devoted to optimizing the ecommerce shopping experience through “smart recommendation,” said heartland entrepreneurs with a winning idea don’t have to venture so far away in search of seed capital.
Baynes’ company, Compatio, was among hundreds of applicants competing for one of five spots in Missouri State University’s 2019 eFactory Accelerator program, the most recent year the eFactory ran the program. The Accelerator took a pause during the 2020 pandemic year, but it’s coming back for 2021.
The university announced this week that the application window for companies to join the fifth class of startups for the program, dubbed “Cohort 5,” is open from May 1 through midnight on May 31.
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What do startups get if they’re chosen?
The Accelerator is not merely a chance to gain mentoring advice from a dedicated consultant and sharpen business plans (and sharpen them again some more), it’s a deal. Companies selected for the fifth class of Accelerator startups each receive a $30,000 investment in exchange for an 8-percent stake in the business.
The money for the seed capital fund comes from a variety of sources, according to an eFactory news release on the…
