The fall 2024 Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program cohort emphasizes artificial intelligence.
The program, RAMP for short, announced its latest group of business teams that will gather in Roanoke for the accelerator program. Three of the businesses — Drivingo, Accordium.AI and Portcullis Research — are Blacksburg-based, and DentAI is from Richmond.
“The beginning of a new cohort is always an exciting time for our organization,” RAMP Director John Hagy said in a news release. “There’s never a shortage of amazing ideas coming out of this region, and it’s an honor to meet this group of entrepreneurs and help them realize their visions.”
DentAI is using artificial intelligence to automate the design for mouth guards used to mitigate teeth grinding and other issues. The tool for labs and dentist offices would streamline tasks and reduce patient costs while freeing dental technicians’ time to do more complex work.
Drivingo aims to improve customers’ experience with businesses via touchless interfaces, conversational AI and made-to-order digital and physical shopping portals. The company is aiming for businesses like banks, grocers, airports and fast-food restaurants.
Accordium.AI’s goal is a large language model platform focused on mergers and acquisitions negotiations. Its platform would feature negotiation preparation, role-playing, coaching and execution to empower users in sales, negotiations and more.
Portcullis Research is working to improve the supply chain and security for the likes of physical documents, supply sources and software development items. It would integrate existing technologies to help private business and government agencies.
The 12-week program features $20,000 per startup in non-equity funding, plus mentoring and free office space at the RAMP’s Roanoke headquarters, the Gill Building. The program includes free memberships in the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council (two years), Virginia BIO (one year) and the Shenandoah Club (three years).
Alumni will receive three more years of ongoing support through Exit RAMP’s coaching and support services.
The public can “Meet the Cohort” at 5 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Shenandoah Club in Roanoke. The program will conclude with Demo Day, Dec. 11 at the Inn at Virginia Tech, where the businesses will do presentations.
RAMP, founded in 2017, has helped launch 52 companies that have totaled more than 800 new jobs, with products and services for the U.S. and beyond, according to its website. It is affiliated with Verge, which the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council started to foster the region’s innovation economy.
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