First Five Startups Graduate from Happy Valley Launchbox

The first five startups to complete a 10-week business accelerator program at Happy Valley Launchbox graduated on Thursday, moving on to the next phase of developing their businesses in the State College community.

Happy Valley LaunchBox is a signature program of Invent Penn State, a statewide initiative introduced by university President Eric Barron to spur economic development while helping students succeed professionally through collaboration between Penn State and local communities on entrepreneurship-focused programs.

“I’m continually inspired to see the groundbreaking research discoveries and disruptive technologies coming from Penn State and Happy Valley,” said Penn State Vice President for Research Neil Sharkey. “The quality of these startups in Happy Valley LaunchBox and the people who are leading them validates the work we are doing through Invent Penn State — both to enhance the entrepreneurship ecosystem and to let the rest of the world know that this is a hub for innovation.”

The startup teams committed to three hours per week of in-class time and five hours out of class during the 10-week program. Now that they’ve completed the program, they will have up to nine months of work space at the Launchbox Allen Street headquarters and professional consulting and mentorship from area entrepreneurs. Staff will also help them connect with potential investors.

The five startups to graduate are

• Lockeroom, a platform for managing youth sports teams and leagues that automates and expedites registration, scheduling and communications for team and league management.

• Project Vive, a low-cost speech assistance device to help individuals with communications disabilities

• ReDi Index, which provides methods to measure an organization’s recycling efforts with a two-number system tracking improvement and progress toward zero waste.

• Scenomics, a software-as-service concept that helps healthcare organizations identify and quantify the value of their technology investments.

• Somnus, a medical device to more accurately diagnoses sleep apnea.

Mary Elizabeth McCulloch, co-founder of Project Vive, said the program has helped accelerate her venture’s growth.

‘We received great mentorship and support here and have grown tremendously,’ McCulloch said. ‘We are hiring five full-time interns this summer and that wouldn’t have been possible without this space.”

The next 10 startups, which will participate in Happy Valley Launchbox’s summer session, were also announced:

• Aeolus, a breathing-based video game for monitoring and improving lung health through engaging physiotherapy.

• Bright Box, hands-on learning kits for Syrian refugee students in Germany that advance their STEM knowledge, German language and social and emotional skills.

• First Pick, a mobile application which helps users organize and search for pickup sports games and tournaments going on around them.

• Maake Magazine, an online gallery and print magazine showcasing the work of emerging artists.

• Omega Notes, a college notes marketplace where students can buy and sell student-generated content including study guides, review sheets, flashcards and class notes.

• Parking Bee, a platform to find affordable and convenient parking space rentals.

• Phospholutions, a buffering agent used to reduce nutrient run-off and leaching in agricultural, horticultural and turf grass production systems.

• Simulation Building Blocks, a platform that bridges industry and academia where experts can add new models (building blocks) into the pre-developed simulation framework​ ​for oil and gas wells.

• Stellartisan, a digital marketplace for products, services and ideas.

• Sunset WX, a daily forecast of the quality of the sunrise and sunset.