gBETA reflects on the past three years of success as it begins its eighth cohort
Milwaukee, WI – Nationally ranked startup accelerator gener8tor announced today the outcomes of their gBETA Milwaukee program’s first three years of local programming. gener8tor has operated the gBETA program in Milwaukee since Summer 2016, and helped 35 local, early-stage startups grow their businesses as a result. These startups range from theMINIclassy, a high-end kid’s streetwear company that designs and manufactures clothes worn by the Kardashians’ children, to Part Analytics, a GE expat-founded procurement optimization software, to VasoGnosis, an AI-powered diagnostic and surgical planning software for brain aneurysms.
These companies participated in gBETA’s seven-week pre-accelerator program in order to shift into a growth-oriented startup mindset, gain early customer traction on their product or idea and make them more competitive applicants for full-time, equity-based accelerators or seed investment.
Of the 35 gBETA Milwaukee alumni, 15 have hit gBETA’s metric of raising at least $50K, participating in an equity-based accelerator, or getting acquired. At 43%, this surpasses gBETA’s goal of 1/3 of participants hitting one of these metrics. gBETA Milwaukee alumni have raised $4.33M in capital since participating in the program, attended five equity-based accelerators spanning the country, and have grown to employ 85.5 local employees (a part-time employee counts as “.5”). Aggregate statistics on gBETA’s 16 programs across all markets can be viewed at www.gBETAstartups.com/statistics.
“We’re proud to partner with gener8tor on its gBETA Milwaukee program to support entrepreneurs and startups at early stages,” said Karl Gouverneur, vice president, digital workplace and corporate solutions and head of digital innovation, Northwestern Mutual. “gener8tor shares our same goal of growing Milwaukee as a tech hub and this successful program is advancing our local startup and entrepreneurial community, which is critical to create job growth and a vibrant innovation economy.”
gBETA Milwaukee is offered for free to local startups thanks to Northwestern Mutual, Baird, Kohl’s, Milwaukee Institute and Rockwell Automation, with support from Foley & Lardner and Michael Best, and is hosted by UW-Milwaukee at their Lubar Entrepreneurship Center. Not only did the startups receive free access to the program via these partners, but they also benefited from direct access to these local corporations.
For example, Northwestern Mutual hosted the “Pitch Night” program culmination event last Fall, Milwaukee Institute convened local industry leaders to participate in mentorship events, and Kohl’s and Rockwell Automation opened up their headquarters for gBETA participants to present their employees, followed by networking and mentor support.
gBETA runs three times per year in Milwaukee, with the most recent program kicking off last week. The “Pitch Night” for this cohort will be part of Fall Experiment on October 4th. RSVP at www.gBETA.eventbrite.com.
