Four Start Co. grads receive extra funding

(Memphis Business Journal) Four graduates of Start Co.’s accelerators have received $997,000 in capital investment: The College Initiative, Core Fire Commandos, Pickle and Well Done.

With the latest round of funding, the 2014 cohort companies from Start Co. have raised a little more than $2 million since completing their accelerator programs.

The College Initiative, an organization that provides college-ready low-income and underserved high school students with the tools, support and mentoring to apply and succeed in college, received $767,000. Gabriel Fotsing, the organization’s founder, raised funds to ramp up operations in the Mid-South to serve 500 students in direct programming and 5,000 students in outreach programming. Core Fire Commandos uses mock emergency and disaster situations to provide team-building, problem-solving and critical thinking. The company will use the $100,000 in funding it received to build out a cloud-based portal that youth can use to translate their experiences into real life by growing relationships, receiving mentoring and tracking real-life accomplishments. Both organizations were graduates of the Sky High Accelerator.

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Memphis Business Journal