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11 lucky startup companies have been selected for mentorship from The Walt Disney Company. The program will also have offer up to $120,000 in investment capital to each of these companies. The program is called the Disney Accelerator and it is powered by Techstars. TechStars is a mentorship-driven startup accelerator founded by David Cohen, Brad Feld, David Brown, and Jared Polis that holds 13 week programs for startups. The Disney Accelerator will be 15 weeks and very immersive. The 11 companies will have access to Disney executives and resources from across The Walt Disney Company.

“With Disney Accelerator we are now bringing the creativity and imagination of Disney to early stage startups in a way we have never done before”

Orientation for the lucky 11 begins with meeting the heads of various Disney owned companies such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, ABC, ESPN and Walt Disney Imagineering. Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger is the first person on the list the companies will meet. Later on they will me other mentors such as entertainment industry leaders, investors, and Techstars’ own set of mentors. Companies will have to meet with mentors regularly and work together to on business plans, marketing ideas and even product launches.  Demo Day in October is the moment of truth for the companies. They will have to present their company to industry leaders, Disney executives, and the entrepreneurial community.

“With Disney Accelerator we are now bringing the creativity and imagination of Disney to early stage startups in a way we have never done before. We are thrilled by the response we’ve received and the high caliber of applicants to the program and we look forward to sharing our knowledge with this excellent group of creative entrepreneurs and really making a difference with these startup companies.” ~Kevin A. Mayer, EVP, Corporate Strategy &  Business Development, The Walt Disney Company.

 The 11 companies selected to participate in the Disney Accelerator program are:

  • Buzzstarter – Buzzstarter is the world’s first scalable programmatic content marketing platform.
  • ChoreMonster – ChoreMonster is a web and mobile platform that makes chores fun for kids and turns parents into superheroes.
  • Codarica – Codarica serves as children’s first interaction into the world of code with help from characters Cody Coder and Holly Hacker.
  • Cogo – Cogo provides video monetization solutions for content creators.
  • Jogg – Jogg simplifies the act of acquiring video from anyone. Users can gather, edit and share much more than just video from their own device.
  • Sphero – Sphero is the connected play company, which fuses digital and physical play by creating robots that you control with a smart device.
  • Sidelines – Sidelines fixes the problem of substandard online discussions and comments by sourcing smart, high-quality discussions from its curated team of over 400 experts, and distributing these discussions to publishers based on relevance.
  • SnowShoe – SnowShoe makes simple, magical pieces of plastic that interact with touch screens to create the perfect bridge between physical items and digital content.
  • Twigtale – Twigtale provides parents with personalized, high-quality, accessible expert advice for every major transition a child undergoes.
  • TYFFON – TYFFON is an entertainment app development company and creator of the ZombieBooth series with more than 25 million total downloads.
  • Ubooly – Ubooly is a learning toy that talks and listens to kids. Ubooly can be customized to know your child’s name, teach lessons, and much more.

By Rubens Saintel

Proud father, #Haitian, photographer, consultant, writer & entrepreneur. I love video games, movies, plays, technology (surprise), beta testing apps and all things sci-fi. SaintelDaily.com |AppleWatch101.com | NBA101.com