Velocity Venture Capital Accepts 10 Startups into Its Business Accelerator Program

In the third phase of the Entrepreneurs Showcase, Velocity Venture Capital has accepted 10 of the most promising technology startups in the Sacramento / Northern California region to its Business Accelerator program.

According to the company, the eight-week Accelerator which began in October is designed to provide local entrepreneurs with a structured set of 8 modules focusing on everything from market analysis to team development to financing and more to help them more rapidly advance their business. Entrepreneurial teams meet each week at Velocity Venture Capital's new Entrepreneurs Campus in Folsom, California, to learn, discuss, and apply key lessons on entrepreneurship with successful CEOs and investors from Silicon Valley and Sacramento. Each week the companies break off and go into a brainstorming and white-boarding session, applying the information they just heard to their own business. Each company presents the output of the working session to everyone else in the room.

"The sessions are a fire hose of information for these entrepreneurs that provide experiential learning - and a dramatic expansion of their professional networks," said Jack Crawford, General Partner at Velocity Venture Capital. "The process of immediately translating the real world case studies to their own business forces the intellectual agility that every entrepreneur must have to succeed."

The Accelerator Program is a partnership between Velocity Venture Capital and the University of the Pacific - and has been supported by the Kauffman Fellows Program, the National Venture Capital Association, Oracle, Samsung, Dell, Silicon Valley Bank, Bank of America, TriNet and others. Students from Pacific's McGeorge School of Law and the Eberhardt School of Business also attend the sessions as a part of their coursework. The sessions provide an atmosphere rich in both experiential and academic learning. Each student works with one company throughout the Accelerator program.

"The Velocity Venture Capital Accelerator Program provides our students with a unique real-world learning opportunity in entrepreneurship while also providing the companies in the program a sounding-board and outside opinions on their business," explained Dan Wadhwani, Professor of Entrepreneurship at University of Pacific.

The Business Accelerator Program is a part of Velocity Venture Capital's six-month Entrepreneurs Showcase that seeks to ignite, accelerate and capitalize technology entrepreneurship in the Sacramento / Northern California Region. The Showcase culminates on December 3rd with a "Demo Day" at Velocity's Entrepreneurs Campus where the 10 selected Accelerator companies will present their business to a room full of potential investors, partners and customers. At the end of the eight-week program, entrepreneurs are better positioned to attract customers, management talent, industry partners, and capital.

Alumni companies of Velocity Venture Capital's Business Accelerator credit the activities as a valuable opportunity for taking their businesses to the next level.

"Velocity Venture Capital's Entrepreneurs Showcase program with its business accelerator modules, mentoring, and network of connections and introductions is the best start-up resource in the Sacramento / Northern California region. I would encourage any entrepreneur to participate in the program," said CJ Alvarado, CEO of Snippet and alumnus of the 2012 batch of companies.

The 10 companies accepted into Velocity's Accelerator Program offer technology solutions for a cross section of industries in some of the most promising markets:

-19 Pencils provides services to help K-6 teachers discover, manage, and share web resources with students and peers. Serving more than 10,000 members from over 60 countries, the company saves teachers, librarians, and homeschooling parents hours every week. 19Pencils makes it easy to find and incorporate online resources into the curriculum to enhance teaching and learning, and allows teachers to share these resources with other educators. In addition, teachers can quickly create quizzes and games that reinforce Common Core standards. Founded in 2012, 19Pencils provides a secure and creative learning environment, with access for students from home or school.

-Apptology is a mobile applications development company based in Sacramento. Apptology is capable of creating customized mobile development solutions for startups, SMB's and Fortune 500 companies. With a team of nearly 40 developers, Apptology has developed over 350 native apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile platforms. Apptology will be launching ReadyEdition which is a product that will allow publishers to self publish to tablet and smartphones.

-Archer is a software company providing Smart TV OS to device companies. Archer has developed a more friendly gesture input based on computer vision technology to create a much better user experience and more possibilities for people on their TVs.

-CirrusMD Inc. is a healthcare communications company focused on mobile physician access solutions. CirrusMD's HIPAA compliant platform allows medical practices and health systems to offer video chat and direct messaging to their patients over mobile devices and the Internet. CirrusMD is currently live in Sacramento and Boston and is actively adding new partners. The Company is engaged in business development opportunities with major health systems, insurance companies, HMOs, ACOs, government payer programs, and corporate health and wellness plans. CirrusMD was founded in 2012 and has operations in Denver and Sacramento.

-CPG Data, based in El Dorado Hills, CA, is a SaaS company serving the B2B consumer packaged goods industry, specializing in the beverage segment. The CPG Data Enterprise Portal provides real- time secure analytics of program execution and retail compliance standards as prescribed by suppliers, distributors, and retailers in their respective geographies, channels, and chains through the use of photos and proprietary, patent-pending collection methods using a smart phone app. "CPG Data, Display Tracking Awesomeness!"

-The Gift of Education is an online gift registry focused on educational savings. The Gift of Education operates like many other online gift registries but instead of registering for toys and other gifts, a person can register an existing educational savings account. Friends and family can visit www.thegiftofeducation.com to make a contribution online.

-HomeZada is a home information platform that helps homeowners manage a home inventory, a home maintenance schedule, home improvement projects and home finances. The all-in-one cloud based solution helps homeowners maintain value, save money, and be more organized in managing one of their largest assets. HomeZada Professional is a marketing solution for real estate, insurance, and home building professionals to increase renewals and referrals from their homeowner clients.

-Mindful Meal is Pandora for Food. Mindful Meal creates highly personalized Meal Plans and Grocery Lists by managing information such as allergies, diets, likes and dislikes. Ultimately, MindfulMeal helps busy individuals and families eat healthy while saving time and money.

-SmartCase is a smart case for your phone. It's SMART because it consolidates your "everyday necessities" into one efficient phone case. From your wallet to your keys, SmartCase provides a streamlined case to hold your items and has a "hands-free" carrying option. The SmartCase is Cash, Keys, ID, and Credit Cards all in one compact place. GET SMART!

-SpecialtyMD is a startup healthcare company building a physician directory and online platform to capitalize on a market need for improved coordination of health services by leveraging technology. SpecialtyMD will increase access to specialty care and improve health outcomes for millions of patients.

Velocity Venture Capital is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests in information technology companies as they converge with key market sectors like Security, Medical, Energy, and Education.

More Information:

http://www.velocityvc.com/entrepreneurs-showcase/

http://www.velocityvc.com

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