LOS ANGELES, CA — (Marketwired) — 07/08/16 — , a hardware accelerator and early stage investment fund that is building the epicenter of hardware startups in Los Angeles, conducted its second-ever Hardware Demo Day on Tuesday, June 28 in Clay Lacy–s new airplane hangar at the Van Nuys Airport. The event was a celebration and showcase for the graduation of Make in LA–s recent class of hardware startups from the company–s comprehensive concept-to-market accelerator program.
The graduating companies were:
1. brings art to life with a digital canvas for displaying art and photography, as well as a marketplace for collecting, discovering and sharing great content.
2. is a startup born from Singularity, sponsored by Google and NASA, working to digitalize touch. They are creating a product to recreate tough in mid-air that integrates VR and AR devices, allowing people to truly connect, feel present and interact with digital content naturally.
3. is a smart bracelet that connects charms to selected digital content. Technology-enabled jewelry for women that keeps them connected to their close friends and family. Luma Legacy–s mission is to offer women unique and relevant ways to express their individuality.
4. is building wearable technology to enable a superhuman workforce. The industrial/IoT startup focuses on enterprise tools that improve communication, increase productivity and worker safety while on the job.
“We are proud to showcase four very unique hardware brands bringing unique and inspired diversity to the world,” said Noramay Cadena, co-founder of Make in LA. “Their dedication and focus has resulted in tremendous progress over the past four months, and all of us at Make in LA anticipate a bright future for these companies as they continue to develop and prepare for their respective market launches.”
During the Demo Day event, a crowd of nearly 200 media, investors, advisors, and industry notables enjoyed 10-minute presentations from the graduating companies and talked one-on-one with founders and their team members. Graduating company Emerge capped off presentations starting with an introduction by key advisor and supporter , first female private space explorer, co-founder of Prodea Systems and social entrepreneur working with and . Attendees also gained further insight from Make in LA executives on the company–s contribution to LA–s booming tech scene, and explored the trends and technologies that will cultivate and spur the next wave of successful hardware startups.
“We are delighted to have hosted Make in LA–s 2016 Demo Day at , LA–s Business Aviation epicenter. As a pioneer in the private jet charter industry, we applaud Make in LA and are proud to support the work they are doing to help entrepreneurs and innovators transform their ideas into reality,” said Scott Cutshall, VP of Marketing at Clay Lacy Aviation.
Through August 1, Make in LA is accepting applications for its third cohort, which begins on September 26 and to-date has more than 150 applications from more than 20 countries. Startups interested in applying can visit .
Make in LA is combining all that Los Angeles has to offer to create a community that will cultivate the next wave of successful hardware startups. We are an early stage accelerator and investment fund, and leverage an ecosystem of partners that support and nurture technology-enabled hardware companies in fields like IoT, robotics, wearables, mobile, virtual reality, and more. We empower entrepreneurs and their businesses by making the developing of hardware not hard. Our four-month comprehensive concept-to-market program applies best practices from mentor-driven accelerators, lean startup methodologies, and design for manufacturing principles to help build the world–s future technology leaders. Make in LA program provides monetary investments up to $150,000 as well as resources including mentoring from a global network of industry experts, creative office space, an advanced prototype lab through a partnership with and extensive production facilities as well as established supply chain and engineering partnerships with . To discover why every hardware startup should “Make in LA” visit and follow us on Twitter at @MakeinLA.
Megan Kathman
Skyya Communications
ph: 651.785.3212
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