BENTONVILLE, Ark. (BRAIN) — A program to help global cycling startups get established — and possibly do business in Arkansas — has chosen 10 participants for its first year.
The chosen companies come from Italy, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Czech Republic, and Arkansas. They will take part in online sessions starting in March, culminating in a two-week in-person program in Bentonville.
The program concludes with a public Demo Night held May 20 at Bentonville's Ledger building, during the city’s annual mountain bike festival. The participating companies also will exhibit at the festival.
"Each selected company brings unique technological solutions that align perfectly with our mission to establish Arkansas as a hub for the cycling industry and cycling innovation,” said Martial Trigeaud, the program’s founder and Cohort Advisor. Trigeaud also is co-founder and co-CEO of Arkansas-based Cardinal Cycling Group, the parent of TIME Bicycles.
Trigaud told BRAIN that 64 companies applied to the program, representing 14 states and 14 countries.
The accelerator is sponsored by a $125,000 grant from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and matching funds from the Walton Family Foundation. PeopleForBikes is sponsoring the Demo Night with the Morgridge Family Foundation.
The selected companies are:
Blubrake, of Milan, Italy, the maker of anti-loc brake systems for e-bikes.
BrakeAce, of Rotorua, New Zealand, which offers a braking analytics platform that is said to improve mountain bike performance and safety s.
Hightag, of Bentonville, installs smart cameras at action sport facilities to give cyclists and other athletes the power to automatically capture footage of themselves while they ride.
Kino Bikes, of Lyon, France, offers a product that converts standard bikes to e-cargo bikes.
Link My Ride of the United Kingdom, is a mobile app and web platform providing tools for communities to connect and build real-life relationships through cycling.
Lockstop, of Bentonville, is a patent-pending Smart Lock that mounts to existing bike racks, providing free, secure parking for cyclists while generating mobility data to help cities optimize infrastructure, reduce emissions, and drive active transport adoption.
NOCA, of Berlin, Germany, is a connected master data platform for the cycling industry to structure and manage data across all teams, and share it with supply chain partners.
Posedla, of Varnsdorf, Czech Republic, offers custom 3D-printed saddles.
Skarper, of London, England, offers an e-bike drive system that transforms regular bikes into e-bikes and back again in one click.
TrailPilot of Bentonville, is an app that creates GPS-guided audio tours for mountain bike trails, with turn-by-turn navigation and local insights.
There is more information on the accelerator program at cyclingaccelerator.com.
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The Demo Night will be held at Bentonville's Ledger building.
