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YBI awards three companies in startup competition
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Three Northeast Ohio 3-D printing companies have received a significant investment to continue moving forward.
On Thursday, the Youngstown Business Incubator announced the winners of its first technology startup competition. JuggerBot, a company that has built a more user-friendly 3-D printer for manufacturers, received $25,000; Freshmade 3D, a 3-D printing company for car parts, received $15,000; and Smart 3D Solutions, a company that will produce a flexible pressure sensor to embed in running shoes, received $15,000.
A remaining $50,000 will be divided among the winners when they meet specific business milestones.
“We didn’t know what to expect, but we are really thrilled with how this turned out,” said Barb Ewing, chief operating officer at YBI.
The worldwide competition, known as AMPED, was launched in July. Thirty applications were received, with eight finalists chosen to present to a panel of judges. From there, the three start-up companies were selected as winners.
YBI hopes to make the competition an annual event. The nonprofit organization, whose goal is to accelerate the startup and development of technology-based companies, created the competition after it was recommended by the University Business Incubator Index.
A $50,000 grant from Burton D. Morgan Foundation made the competition possible. America Makes, the first additive manufacturing hub in the U.S. created by President Barack Obama’s administration, Youngstown State University and Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network, partnered with YBI to provide industry experts as judges.
The three co-founders of Youngstown-based JuggerBot 3D – Dan Fernback, Jim D’Andrea and Zac Divencenzo, all YSU graduates – have been working for more than a year to develop a 3-D printer that is reasonably priced and is more user-friendly for manufacturers.
“It’s our goal during beta testing to help them identify how they can use this technology,” Fernback said.
The beta testing will take place from February through June with the goal of launching the printer to market in the third quarter of 2016.
“This is a great opportunity,” Fernback said of the competition. “We went up against some stiff competition.”
Youngstown-based Freshmade 3D co-founders Christopher Tomko and Brett Conner started their company this year to work with classic-car collectors in search of parts that are hard to find. The entrepreneurs heard about the competition through word of mouth.
“We knew the caliber of the people who we were competing with,” Tomko said. “We didn’t expect it to be easy. We had to bring our A game.”
Tomko and Conner are working with testers of their product right now and expect to hit the market in six months.
Akron-based Smart 3D Solutions’ product is expected to hit the market by the end of next year. The company uses a 3-D printer to print a flexible pressure sensor to embed in the insole of a shoe. The sensor reads and monitors pressure and sends information to a smartphone that will provide a runner with coaching tips on form.
“It helps runners avoid injury,” said Ben Kent, one of the founders. “We are excited to keep moving forward on it.”