Bethnal Green Ventures has unveiled the next 10 startups to graduate from its 12-week #techforgood accelerator programme.
The companies are tackling some of the greatest social challenges, from high rent costs to caring for the elderly, flooding to health diagnostics in developing countries.
Each startup has received £15,000 to develop their idea and will showcase their product at an event at Digitas LBi this evening.
Since launch, the accelerator has backed seven cohorts, 65 socially-good ventures overall, and representing £1m of funding from the Cabinet Office Social Incubator Fund, Nominet Trust, Nesta and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation.
Despite the perceived difficulties associated with financing social ventures, 60% of the companies supported have gone on to raise follow-on funding – bagging £12.5m between them.
The #techforgood 10
1. Cove: an app that allows for the communication of emotions through expressive music making. Initially targeted at young people experiencing grief and loss, Cove acts as a musical journal that teenagers can use to create music that captures their mood and expresses how they really feel.
2. eFridgeMagnet: a connected device that lets friends and family know about their older relatives by unobtrusively monitoring how they are using their fridge.
3. Firesouls: digital products to get more resources into local communities. The main product is the Social Value Exchange, an online platform that gets more resources into community projects by matching them with large government suppliers – making use of the Social Value Act in public sector procurement.
4. Flood Network: a distributed network of low-cost flood sensors that collects data to help predict flooding and improve flood defences in towns and cities.
5. Konnektis: a digital record-keeping service which encourages better communication between carers of older people.
6. Lessonate: an online service for teaching materials that will encourage teachers to improve and share lesson plans, focusing first on the primary computing curriculum.
7. Mathscraft: multiplayer maths games where children compete and collaborate with each other to solve maths problems.
8. PositionDial: an online service to help people live in line with their values – giving them the information they need to be able to buy, campaign and vote in line with the issues they care about.
9. Project Tide: an app that improves the accuracy and impact of healthcare diagnostics in developing countries. The first disease it is focusing on is tuberculosis.
10. RentSquare: an ethical digital service where tenants and landlords can connect directly around the best rent prices.
Paul Miller, founding partner at Bethnal Green Ventures, said: “It’s never been easier to use technology to change the world – the ten startups we’re launching tonight have ambitions to do just that.
“We’re really excited by the growing movement behind using technology for social change.
“We predict we’re going to see more and more startups launching around particular social or environmental problems, creating sustainable high growth businesses that will impact the lives of millions of people.”
Bethnal Green Ventures is now accepting applications for its winter 2016 cohort, closing them on 19 October. Apply here.