Up to ten companies will be given up to a $100K investment to participate in the program
The Conscious Venture Lab (CVL), an accelerator in partnership with SHIFT Ventures and the Conscious Venture Fund I, announced today that applications are open for Conscious Venture Lab 5: A Challenge for More Resilient Cities. The Conscious Venture Lab is looking for entrepreneurs who are building businesses with innovative models and technologies to create resilient, livable, equitable and sustainable cities.
Up to ten companies will be selected to participate in Conscious Venture Lab 5 and receive up to a $100K investment. The deadline for applications is June 3, 2019 and the program will run from August to November 2019.
“Our thesis that smart, innovative and driven entrepreneurs are everywhere, but opportunity is not, is proving to be a powerful differentiator for us. The majority of companies from our last cohort were founded by females and minorities, and we plan to continue this positive trend of investing in talent that is normally overlooked. We are eager to meet our next group of mission-driven entrepreneurs and are thankful for our growing community of investors,” said Jeff Cherry, Founder of the Conscious Venture Lab and CEO of SHIFT Ventures.
The four-month accelerator program will be hosted at Baltimore City Community College in the heart of the Innovation Village in West Baltimore, which includes Coppin State, MICA and Mondawmin Mall. This is the third year the Conscious Venture Lab will be partnering with the Innovation Village to support its mission of bringing innovation to underserved communities by connecting anchor institutions and large companies with startups, business incubators and accelerators.
The Conscious Venture Lab has teamed with nationally recognized entrepreneurs, academics, entrepreneurs and business leaders to provide mentorship for Conscious Venture Lab 5. They include: Ed Freeman, Academic Director of the Institute for Business in Society at the Darden School, University of Virginia; Professor Raj Sisodia, TEDx speaker and author ofFirms of Endearment and Conscious Capitalism; Tom Gardner, CEO of the Motley Fool; Jacques Panis, former president of Shinola, Detroit; and Yair Flicker, President of SmartLogic, one of Baltimore’s most successful tech consulting companies.
The accelerator program features a rigorous curriculum that provides entrepreneurs with a foundation for building a company and vision based on purpose, while focusing on the skills needed to build sustainable business models.
The Conscious Venture Lab and SHIFT Ventures celebrated the completion of its fourth cohort in January. The companies were: CoAuthor, Komehsa Essentials, Optikal Contact Care Inc., Ortus Academy, R3 Score and TruDiary.
Notable graduates from previous cohorts include Hungry Harvest, a company on a mission to fight food waste and hunger; and Shea Radiance, a cosmetics company that works with women’s cooperatives in West Africa and is represented in more than 100 retail outlets in the mid-Atlantic region.
The Conscious Venture Lab was founded in 2013 with sponsorship from The Howard County Economic Development Authority.
Applications are being accepted via the Conscious Venter Lab website at www.consciousventurelab.
About SHIFT Ventures and the Conscious Venture Lab:
The Conscious Venture Lab is on a mission is to uncover entrepreneurial talent wherever it might be found. In 2017, Conscious Venture Lab’s parent company, The Porter Group joined forces with Baltimore-based SHIFT to form SHIFT Ventures in order to help entrepreneurs achieve increased levels of growth and sustainability. Together, the companies can offer innovators and entrepreneurs new corporate partners, investors, and world-class consulting expertise.
