Three updates from the world of incubators and accelerators that offer a boost to fledgling businesses…

A new Boston incubator for mobile startups

Raizlabs, a Boston mobile development firm, plans to create an incubator space for startups working on mobile apps. Founder Greg Raiz tells me the Downtown Crossing space will open this summer with about a half-dozen companies in residence.

Raizlabs has worked with some high-profile clients on developing mobile apps, including Care.com, RunKeeper, Bloomingdale’s, and EMC. And as the company moves into a bigger office space on Milk Street, Raiz says they’re setting aside space for a few roommates. Raizlabs employees will provide guidance on design, technology, and strategic issues — such as whether to develop for iPhone or Android, or which system to use for reporting bugs.

“Other accelerators are focused on helping you learn to pitch, or raise venture capital funding,” says Raiz. “Our value isn’t about your elevator pitch — it’s about helping make a great product. Like how do you attract and retain users, or get them to pay for your app?” Raiz contends that helping mobile startups figure out how to attract users and generate revenue will better position them to raise money later.

Raiz says that his staff of about 40 won’t be building the product for these startups. “We want them to have a technical co-founder or some technical chops,” he says. And the space won’t be free; Raiz expects to work out individual deals with startups involving either cash or equity. “Ultimately,” he acknowledges, “this has to bring value to the companies that come to it in Year One, so that we can build a reputation as a mobile innovation hub.”

Launch nearing for Fintech Sandbox

I told you last May that a group of companies, led by Fidelity Investments, Amazon Web Services, and Thomson Reuters, were developing a new program to support startups in the financial services sector. This program, the FinTech Sandbox, is focused on giving entrepreneurs access to the financial data sources and computing resources they need to get off the ground, as well as industry experts.

The program has a new director since I last covered it: Jean Donnelly, formerly an executive with Fidelity, EnerNOC, and GE Capital. The Sandbox is now accepting applications from interested startups, and there’s a launch event planned for March 26th at District Hall in Boston.

Three local startups have been serving as guinea pigs for the Sandbox, a pilot program that began in December. They are Quantopian, Kensho, and Elsen.

“It’s a pretty original idea,” says John Fawcett, CEO of Quantopian. “When I started the company, I had saved up some money to start, but I had to lay out five figures for historical [stock] pricing information. That was the hardest check to write, because it was really shortening my runway. I think that hurdle is really discouraging to a lot of startups.”

The Sandbox will offer early-stage companies up to six months of free access to data feeds from its supporters — like FactSet or Thomson Reuters — with the possibility of further discounts as the startups transition into paying customers.

One of the key players behind the Sandbox is David Jegen of Devonshire Investors, the private investment arm of the Johnson family, which owns Fidelity. Jegen says that he expects the Sandbox to have between five and ten companies participating at any one time. And while the Sandbox won’t take a hunk of equity from participants, Jegen says that “we ask startups to give back to the fintech community, by sharing what they’ve learned — blogging about it, or sharing code or data schemas.”

The Sandbox will have space at the Impact Hub, a co-working facility in Downtown Crossing. But participants don’t need to be based there; they can be anywhere in the world, Donnelly says.

Jegen says the purpose of the March 26th launch event is to “raise awareness, get startups into the Sandbox, and reach out to other executives and entrepreneurs who can help those startups.” If a startup needs a foreign exchange trader or a wealth manager to provide input or look at some software they’re building, “We want to help make that connection,” Jegen says.

Changes at Healthbox

Healthbox arrived in Cambridge in 2012, offering $50,000 in seed funding to chosen health care ventures, along with mentorship and office space. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts was the flagship local partner. But after going through two sessions, Healthbox took a breather in 2014.

A new set of companies has just been selected for the 2015 program, which begins next week. The model has changed significantly; it’s now called a “Studio,” instead of an accelerator. Healthbox managing director Nina Nashif explains via e-mail:

1. We are no longer investing or taking equity in the companies upon acceptance into the program.

2. We are opening up the program to seed and early stage companies who want focused assistance with validating and scaling their businesses as well as access to a curated network of experts.

3. The program is 8 weeks rather than 16 weeks and provides entrepreneurs the ability to remain focused on building their business.

4. Companies will have an opportunity to be considered for an investment following the completion of the program.

The program is based at the Cambridge Innovation Center, and participants “have the option of space if they like, but we are not making it mandatory for them to office with us,” says Maria Siambekos, who oversees the Boston program.

It also seems that Blue Cross Blue Shield is no longer a financial backer of Healthbox locally. “We haven’t financially committed to doing another program with Healthbox, but we do continue to support the program,” says Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman Sharon Torgerson. “We are still supporting the portfolio companies in class 1 and class 2.”

You can see the list of companies that will be part of the 2015 “Studio” below; they include some, like Strohl Medical and Artaic, that have been part of other accelerators in the past (Techstars Boston and MassChallenge, respectively.)

• • •

Participants Healthbox’s Boston 2015 Studio
(Descriptions supplied by Healthbox)
Raiing Medical – developed the first (and currently only) wearable continuous body temperature-monitoring device with FDA 510K clearance.

Obz Design – non-invasive hemoglobin measurement, packaged in a device designed for use in developing countries (durable, low-power, easy to use). The device – “Insight” – will deliver accurate readings in 60 seconds with no blood testing or consumables required.

Artaic – received a $2M SBIR grant to design and build a machine that automates the medication sorting process. The Pill Dispensing Robot can rapidly fill as many as 100 canisters per minute with great accuracy.

GoodLux Technology – SunSprite is a device and mobile app that helps each patient self-manage depression using bright light therapy. The device is a small clip-on piece of hardware that tracks the amount of light a patient gets each day.

iHopeNetwork – helps PCPs identify depression and anxiety in their patients, as required by the Affordable Care Act mandate to annually screen for depression. iHope will then use its national network of certified licensed clinicians/coaches to deliver technology-guided Cognitive Behavioral Therapy treatment via phone and video conferencing.

OtoSense – provides individuals suffering from hearing loss with the most advanced sound recognition engine to increase their security and comfort. This technology, called SIR, for Sound Intelligent Recognition, has been adapted to mobile devices.

Strohl Medical – has developed the NeuroEPG™ System to help emergency physicians identify and triage potential stroke victims, faster and more efficiently.

VoiceItt – has developed a product featuring personalized speech recognition technology, which recognizes the user’s speech and translates it into understandable language that is displayed on and vocalized by the user’s device.

NurseGrid – has developed a calendaring and communication tool for individual nurses. The application includes unique features such as the ability to manage work schedules across multiple hospitals, in-app shift swapping, biweekly schedule entry, and certification management.

From: www.betaboston.com