Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Announces 2022 Summer Accelerator Cohort

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) accepted seven startup teams to their Summer Accelerator program.

The intensive 13-week program helps Cal Poly students and recent graduates develop their startup ideas and launch their companies. Each participating team is provided with $100,000 in seed funding, access to expert mentorship and tailored workshops, as well as a dedicated workspace in the HotHouse.

“The Summer Accelerator is an opportunity to work with people who believe in the power of entrepreneurship,” CIE Director of Student Innovation Programs Jose Huitron said. “It is a true Learn By Doing experience, full of peer collaboration, learning, team building and startup possibility.”

The eight teams were officially announced at the CIE’s May Entrepreneurship Forum on May 16 at 4:30 p.m. in the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center (PAC). 

The forum also featured a Q&A session with Cal Poly alumnus and entrepreneur Scott Edwards. Edwards graduated from Cal Poly in 2013 with a degree in industrial technologies and is now founder and CEO of Drop Water, a startup scaling the use of compostable and biodegradable packaging materials. 

The 2022 Summer Accelerator teams represent a variety of different concepts, from adaptive sports with this year’s Innovation Quest (iQ) winner, Adapted Mobility, to agricultural technology with Better Berry.

“Our 2022 Summer Accelerator comprises an exciting cohort of entrepreneurs and teams who each bring unwavering passion, entrepreneurial skill and resolve to help build the future,” Huitron said.

This year’s cohort includes:

Adapted Mobility, a compact, capable and intuitive mobility device built from commercially available electric unicycles, created by Evan Lalanne, a manufacturing engineering senior from Arroyo Grande.

BetterBerry, a startup using technology that reduces the amount of water, waste, transportation and labor needed to grow strawberries to provide high-quality, locally-grown berries to communities that do not have adequate climates for farming. The startup was founded by business administration senior Corrine Cooper and mechanical engineering seniors Brandon Janney and Shalin Gogri.

FemForward, a reusable, machine-washable and leak-proof period short created by biomedical engineering senior McCall Brinskele of Marin County, California.

Grip Safe, a patent-pending firearm safety device that makes AR-15s secure for storage and safe shoot and state law-compliant for transport, all through an interchangeable grip attachment innovated by business administration senior Shaun Tanaka of Los Angeles and mechanical engineering sophomore Dylan DeFazio of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

Lend Technologies Inc., a software that connects outdoor equipment shops to consumers created by business administration sophomore Dylan Tran, computer science junior Shubh Khandhadia, software engineering junior Nikhil Nagarajan, computer engineering freshman Brian Mere, computer science freshman Xiuyuan Qui and business administration and consumer packaging sophomore Lindsey Lau.

Quickie, a 10-minute mobile delivery service providing select food, beverages and other essentials to college students anywhere within two miles of campus founded by Matthew Menno and William Tregenza, business administration sophomores from Arroyo Grande.

Ryde Carpool, a social carpooling marketplace that allows college students to buy and sell empty seats in each other’s cars, founded by recent computer science graduate Emily Gavrilenko of Antioch, California; recreation, parks and tourism senior Johnny Morris of Berkeley, California; and computer science sophomore Josh Wong of San Francisco.

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About the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: 

The CIE opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunities to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members and promotes entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo. For more information, visit https://calpolycie.wpengine.com/.  

About the SLO HotHouse: 

The HotHouse is a community space for Cal Poly for Center and Innovation Entrepreneurship off-campus programs created through the efforts of Cal Poly, the city and county of San Luis Obispo, the business community and the CIE. The goal of the HotHouse is to support students and community members as they work to create new innovations and start business ventures. For more information, visit https://calpolycie.wpengine.com/hothouse.