Thrive
Startups announced for Innovation Center spring cohort
The Tampa Bay Innovation Center has launched its 10th accelerator program cohort for early-stage tech startups. Through its B2B (business to business) accelerator program, the center provides training and mentoring in customer discovery, market validation, product strategy and investor readiness.
Navigating these waters can be daunting for a startup developing new products, said Ken Evans, managing director of the TBIC accelerator program, in a prepared statement. “Startups are measured by the products they ship and the revenue they earn,” Evans said. “TBIC’s accelerator program was created to focus on these key objectives while helping early-stage startups effectively test their products and identify the most likely early adopter customers.”
Startups selected for the spring 2025 cohort are:
Accelerate Recruitment Services (Gulfport) – Enabling more efficient clinical trial research for pharmaceutical companies;
Daitasoft (Tampa) – FinTech software to assist small-cap and mid-cap public companies with GRC audit and compliance;
FolioBridge (Tampa) – EdTech software to consolidate content and communications for teachers and administrators;
Lavender Leaf (Riverview) – EdTech tool focuses on early childhood development and literacy;
M.O.R.I. (Tampa) – SaaS platform to help mortgage companies improve training, broker retention and deal flow;
Pelican Systems (St. Petersburg) – Computer vision solution for enhancing public safety at pedestrian crosswalks;
Receivabull (Gulfport) – Leveraging cryptocurrency assets for small business funding;
Seminode (St. Petersburg) – Replacing inefficient sourcing of surplus electrical components with a real-time marketplace;
SMOK3 (St. Petersburg) – Automating professional agency representation services for online content creators;
Valent (St. Petersburg) – Platform to help government suppliers be more effective in finding and bidding on contracts.
“We look for products that appeal to medium – larger enterprise customers,” Evans told the Catalyst in 2024. “Our workshops are tailored to helping these startup founders create product and go-to-market strategies so that they are capable of delivering solutions that work well for that size market opportunity-slash-customer.”
The formal accelerator program, which launched in 2019, is about “product-market fit,” Evans said, “which is technology agnostic. While the industry buzzwords and hype may change monthly, the basic blocking and tackling skills needed to turn an opportunity into a business venture do not change significantly from technology to technology.”
The companies will present at TBIC’s 10th Innovation Showcase event, be held in late May at the ARK Innovation Center. Applications to participate in the fall B2B accelerator program will be available in June.
