After a rigorous selection process, these companies have impressed the PAX team and angels with their readiness to innovate and grow. PAX is extremely optimistic about the prospects of these companies and has doubled its investment amount from $50k to $100k in cash per startup.
The Fall-22 cohort is led by a group of incredible men and women with a diverse range of experiences. Three of its companies are led by individuals from historically underrepresented populations. The group also boasts multiple exited founders, a former US diplomat, a former US Air Force captain, and a doctor with a PhD in environmental science.
The companies that PAX has chosen for this cohort have already proved some product/market fit through securing sophisticated initial customers. PAX’s eight-week program will now teach them how best to tackle the next part of their journey: creating a repeatable, scalable sales process to drive revenue growth. During this period, PAX will host training sessions prepared by its founder, Matt Hanson, and other experts who will help the entrepreneurs learn how to hire an effective sales team, build channel partnerships, create a sales playbook, formulate digital marketing and PR plans, and implement the best pricing strategies.
This is the most industry-diverse PAX cohort to date. PAX is excited to invest in two ClimateTech companies this fall, honoring its commitment to champion startups focused on solving problems of pollution and environmental degradation. California-based Harvest Thermal’s heating technology converts hot water tanks into thermal batteries that warm homes at a fraction of the cost and carbon footprint of traditional solutions. Across the country in New York, Cobalt Water Global is using AI software to optimize the water treatment process at wastewater plants to reduce N2O emissions, a gas 300 times as potent as CO2.
The other cohort companies each arrive from a different vertical. On the West Coast, Curie is shaking up the AI/Machine Learning space by constructing 3D designs of products for retailers using nothing but 2D images, helping these vendors ramp up their conversion rates and customer engagement.
Over on the East Coast, PAX will be guiding a number of cohort companies that are disrupting their respective markets. In Virginia, Amplio.ai is using its novel HR technology to fight employee stress and burnout by combining biometric feedback from wearable devices with psychometric feedback from tests to create digital twins of employees for self-monitoring. Back in DC, Wellthi has created a FinTech app integration for financial institutions that enables their customers to take advantage of the power of social banking by creating savings groups within their social circles and organizations.
Two of the cohort companies are international. Logra, from Mexico City, is pouring fuel on the fire of economic growth across LatAm by providing start-ups and small businesses with a platform designed to give them the business tactics they require to succeed. OnexMedical, from Abu Dhabi, has constructed a MedTech platform that matches medical manufacturers with distributors from across the world, helping them grow and track their progress.
ClimateTech
Harvest Thermal (Kensington, CA): Harvest Thermal integrates electric heat pumps with water storage tanks to deliver home heating and hot water solutions. These heating systems, under the direction of the start-ups’ novel “Harvest Pod,” consume electricity when it is cheapest and cleanest to use. This improvement results in lower expenses for homeowners and, just as importantly, a smaller carbon footprint per household.
Cobalt Water Global (New York City, NY): Cobalt Water Global deploys AI software at wastewater treatment plants to quickly quantify their emissions, optimize their treatment process, and reduce their N2O pollution. N2O is currently responsible for the majority of the greenhouse gas pollution generated by these plants and is 300 times as potent as CO2.
AI/Machine Learning
Curie (Seattle, WA): Curie develops virtual 3D renderings of retail products based upon 2D images of them, expediting the process of creating these models at a fraction of the normal price. In doing so, Curie helps retailers improve the experiences and interactions of customers with their platform.
HR Tech
Amplio.ai (Chantilly, VA): Amplio.ai uses bio- and psychometric data collected from wearables and tests to construct digital twins of employees. Analysis of these twins helps people predict someone’s main stressors and create plans for how to help them before they fall into crisis, reducing turnover costs and employee burnout in the workplace.
FinTech
Wellthi (Washington DC): Wellthi embeds a social banking application into a financial institution’s existing user interface. This application enables customers to collectively save money with their families and friends, easing the process of raising funds for college, weddings, or other costly endeavors.
SaaS
Logra (Bogotá, Colombia): Logra offers small businesses and start-ups in Latin America a platform that provides them with targeted tactics and counsel on how to succeed in today’s competitive environment. This platform in turn gives budding content creators and business experts the ability to share their knowledge with a wide range of young companies.
MedTech
OnexMedical (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates): OnexMedical has made a platform that matches medical manufacturers with distributors across the world. This online platform boasts a number of features that help manufacturers penetrate new countries and markets, aiding them in overcoming regulatory compliance issues, language gaps, and other barriers to entry.
