FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT
Jessica Halsey
Program Manager, gener8tor
775-342-7057
jessica@gener8tor.com
Carli Smith
Director of Communications, GOED
775-687-9903
c.smith@goed.nv.gov
June 13, 2024
Reno-based startups selected for accelerator
gener8tor and the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development welcome the inaugural gBETA Reno cohort
RENO, Nev. – gener8tor, a global venture firm and accelerator network, is expanding its Nevada footprint and public-private partnership with the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) by selecting Reno-based companies to participate in its local gBETA program. Ghostwryte.ai, SLEKE., Traxs, and Yerka Seeds were competitively selected and will form gBETA Reno’s inaugural cohort.
gBETA Reno is a free seven-week accelerator program designed to set a path for startups to pursue investment opportunities. Startup founders receive intensive concierge coaching and access to gener8tor’s national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners and investors.
The selected companies were chosen based on their growth potential and investor readiness. See below for more details on each company.
“I’m thrilled to get to work with these incredible Reno-based companies on their growth,” said Jessica Halsey, gBETA Reno Program Manager. “This program not only supports these selected companies but highlights the innovation and economic development happening in Reno.”
“gBETA Reno offered through this public-private partnership represents another building block in GOED’s Innovation Based Economic Development approach,” said Karsten Heise, Senior Director Strategic Programs & Innovation at GOED. “gBETA’s goal is that graduates will go on to participate in an investment accelerator or raise a seed round and this will support homegrown innovation and help strengthen thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems in Reno and Las Vegas where gBETA is offered in Nevada.”
At the end of the gBETA program, the startup founders will pitch their companies to investors, community partners and the public at a showcase event at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 27, at the Whitney Peak Hotel 255 N Virginia Street in Reno. Register for the showcase event at https://bit.ly/3yPbAIy
Startup companies and founders interested in learning more about gBETA’s programming and resources or applying to a future program can visit the gener8tor gBETA website, or reach out to Jessica Halsey at jessica@gener8tor.com. Those interested in mentoring these companies or getting involved in other ways are also encouraged to connect.
gBETA Reno 2024 Cohort
Ghostwryte.ai is an AI copilot for high-volume, text-based, personalized content creation. Ghostwryte.ai’s infrastructure allows users to train individual models on user-selected data to produce individualized content. It’s the ghostwryter for the ghost-writer. Professional content service providers will be able to increase their business’s capacity for client work and thereby, increase revenue. Ghostwryte has run one pilot with seven content creators, will soon be launching their second pilot with B2C users (wait-list count: 100), and are currently scheduling demos for B2B users for a third pilot.
Founder and CEO: Morgan Young | morgan@ghostwryte.ai
The SLEKE.‘s smartphone operating system (OS) focuses the smartphone experience exclusively on communication and utility functions. The OS only includes features related to messaging, life management, money, maps, music. SLEKE. allows users to interact seamlessly in high-tech, real world environments while eliminating what people find most distracting. Within one month of launch, SLEKE. earned $1,464.75 in revenue and secured an LOI from a phone reseller.
Co-Founders: Austin Boer and Brennan Jordan | austin@sleke.io | sleke.io
Traxs’ turnkey solution improves any manufacturing operation in real-time, effortlessly. Traxs devices follow the movement of material though the manufacturing process and require less than two hours for implementation and installation. Traxs’ cloud-based platform analyzes the data from these devices in real-time, enabling manufacturers to improve their operations, saving them money, without disrupting their shop floor. Traxs is ready for deployment, and actively signing up beta sites in Nevada and California.
Founder and CEO: Samuel Douglass | samuel.douglass@traxs.io | traxs.io
Yerka Seed Company (“Yerka Seeds”) develops new plant biotechnologies that include crop varieties that farmers grow or specific genes that can be deployed in crops to make them more sustainable. Yerka Seeds’ sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and corn (Zea mays) varieties target the gluten-free foods, beer, and dairy nutrition markets. To protect the unique nutrition profiles of their grain, or to prevent genetically-modified (GMO) plants from cross-pollinating organic varieties or wild species, Yerka Seeds is also developing innovative “CrossLock” technology, which prevents unintended cross-pollination among plants. Yerka Seeds is currently conducting nationwide pilot studies for its new varieties and fundraising to develop and beta-test first-generation CrossLocks based on a recent patent.
Founder: Dr. Melinda Yerka | melindayerka@gmail.com
About gener8tor
gener8tor is a global venture firm and accelerator network that supports startups, workers, employers, artists and musicians across race, place and gender. gener8tor partners with companies, governments, universities and nonprofits to operate programs and conferences in more than 41 communities across 22 states and two countries. Fast Company named gener8tor one of the Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2021 and 2022. The International Trade Council recognized gener8tor as the Global Venture Capital Firm of the Year in 2022.
About gBETA
gBETA is a non-equity accelerator that facilitates the growth of early-stage companies through a network-driven program. This accelerator supports five startups per cohort and requires no fees for startups and takes no equity. Since launching in 2015, gBETA accelerator alumni have raised $722M+ in capital and created 4,223+ jobs across the U.S. and Canada.
About the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development
Created during the 2011 session of the Nevada Legislature, the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development is the result of a collaborative effort between the Nevada Legislature and the Governor’s Office to restructure economic development in the state. GOED’s role is to promote a robust, diversified, and prosperous economy in Nevada, to stimulate business expansion and retention, encourage entrepreneurial enterprise, attract new businesses and facilitate community development.