Washington, D.C., (October 12, 2022) – Village Capital today announced that 20 startups were selected to take part in “ADAPT: Social Innovation for a More Resilient Future in the United States.” The startups are working on next-generation innovations that address key issues related to climate change, healthcare, wellness, and economic mobility. ADAPT, which was launched with support from MetLife Foundation and will receive additional support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is an accelerator program operating in the U.S. and Latin America.
The open call focused on startups creating and expanding access to solutions around community resilience, including disaster preparedness, financial preparedness, and economic opportunity; and individual resilience, including health and wellness, work and learning, and financial health. The impetus for the ADAPT accelerator program is a focus on cross-cutting or intersectional issues that directly impact an individual’s or community’s ability to achieve resiliency and adapt to ongoing environmental, social, and economic challenges.
More than 130 startups from 28 states applied to be a part of the new accelerator. The final cohort is composed of 20 startups from 10 states, with 45% of the cohort headquartered outside of U.S. tech hubs (NY, CA, and MA), 60% led by a female founder or C-suite member, and 85% led by a BIPOC founder or C-suite member.
Here are the 20 startups helping communities and individuals build resilience and adapt to challenges related to climate change, healthcare, wellness, and economic mobility in the US:
- Dollarito (Houston, TX) is a digital lending platform that helps the low-income Hispanic community access fair credit.
- Enabled Health (Seattle, WA) enhances the safety net for older patients with chronic diseases living in rural areas by providing an easy-to-use home health monitoring system and comprehensive at-home care that integrates data from home and hospital.
- ISeeChange (New Orleans, LA) operates a data and engagement platform for cities to combat climate change.
- Jeeva (Providence, RI) is a mental wellness platform designed for Gen Z youth - delivered on their terms, gently supported by peers, and boosted by AI and proven science.
- LearnCdo (San Francisco, CA) is a 24/7 live video pediatric lifeline for parents with preemptive questions and moments of child distress.
- Meltek (New York, NY) operates software that rewards people for reducing energy consumption.
- Miren (New York, NY) expands access to financing capital to 10.6 million underserved small business owners.
- Moduly (Birmingham, AL) is a smart energy solution behind the meter with an integration of battery storage, smart home control, and AI learning process that helps any type of residential and light commercial users to reduce their energy consumption, peak demand, and carbon footprint, and is an energy backup for power outages.
- New Majority Capital (Providence, RI) provides technical resources and access to capital to BIPOC and women entrepreneurs to acquire and run existing small businesses to close the racial and gender wealth gap.
- Ostrich (New York, NY) has developed a financial habit-building app for college students who need to build a solid financial foundation to live a better life than their parents.
- Participant (Nashville, TN) is a software company that increases organizations' positive impact on the world by helping them manage good social initiatives and measure what works.
- Pear Suite (Honolulu, HI) harnesses the power of technology to train and empower community health workers to meet each patient's social determinants of health needs through culturally and linguistically sensitive care navigation.
- Rebuildee (New York, NY) is an in-kind donation platform to aid people in rebuilding their lives and refurnishing their homes while recovering from disaster.
- Revival (New York, NY) helps borrowers buy out and eliminate their debt at the same pennies on the dollar rate it gets sold to debt collectors and investors.
- Rhizome (Washington, DC) is a climate resilience software company enabling utilities, governments, and corporations to mitigate extreme weather's social and economic impacts.
- SolarFi (Los Angeles, CA) is an energy-autonomous, mobile, flexibly designed solar pod with Wi-Fi, well-suited for deployment in post-disaster impact zones.
- SoShe (Boston, MA) supports women and families from trying-to-conceive through three years postpartum, bringing digital transformation to patient engagement and preventive care that’s evidence-based, outcomes-focused, cost-effective, and partner-inclusive.
- Takachar (Richmond, CA) turns crop and forest residue from rural communities into high-value carbon-based bioproducts, creating a localized bioeconomy and livelihood.
- USEFUZE (Waverly, NY) a platform for contract and trade workers that enables them to connect with new clients, streamline the invoice process and overall project management.
- Welfie (San Diego, CA) is a digital health platform helping K-12 school districts and Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) deliver personalized health education, culturally competent care coordination, and access to care for the U.S.’ most vulnerable families.
From October to December 2022, the selected startups will participate in three online workshops and one in-person summit, as well as receive mentorship from potential strategic partners, MetLife employees, investors, customers, and other founders and Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs) in the U.S. Startups will also connect one-on-one with an investment analyst for feedback and support. Two companies from each cohort will be selected by their peers to receive USD $50,000 each from MetLife Foundation to further scale their solutions.
For more information, reach out to Sofía Cándano at Village Capital (sofia.candano@vilcap.com).
About Village Capital
Village Capital helps entrepreneurs bring big ideas from vision to scale. Our mission is to reinvent the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Our vision is a future where business creates equity and long-term prosperity. Since 2009, we have supported more than 1,000 early-stage entrepreneurs through our investment readiness programs. Our affiliated fund, VilCap Investments, has invested in more than 110 program graduates.
About MetLife Foundation
At MetLife Foundation, we are committed to driving inclusive economic mobility for underserved and underrepresented communities around the world. We collaborate with nonprofit organizations and provide grants aligned to three strategic focus areas – economic inclusion, financial health and resilient communities – while engaging MetLife employee volunteers to help drive impact. MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 to continue MetLife’s long tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. Since 1976, MetLife Foundation has contributed over $900 million to strengthen communities where MetLife has a presence. To learn more about MetLife Foundation, visit www.MetLife.org.