Nebullam and LEAH Laboratories Selected Into Y Combinator
Photo courtesy of flickr.
Nebullam and LEAH Laboratories
Selected Into Y Combinator
Two Iowa-based companies, Nebullam and LEAH Laboratories, were selected into Y Combinator’s winter cohort accelerator program.
Their acceptance into the program comes with a seed investment of $150,000 along with mentorship throughout the 90-day program that culminates this week with a demo day in San Francisco.
“One of the biggest takeaways that we’ve had from YC is the fact that the community is just as open when talking about failure as they are with talking about success,” said Clayton Mooney, CEO and co-founder of Nebullam “That openness to sharing what doesn’t or didn’t work is healthy and required for growing a technology startup ecosystem. I believe Ames has the potential to become a powerful technology startup hub over the coming years, but only if the community reaches the point where it wants to optimize for the upside, while not sweating the downside.”
Prior to the winter cohort, Nebullam went through Y Combinator’s Startup School, a 10-week online program that provides mentorship and a startup network.
“Coming into the program, we had been developing this idea for about a year and really needed a ton of flam to light all the gas that we had and Y Combinator really provided that for us,” said Wesley Wierson, co-founder and CEO of LEAH Laboratories.
Out of approximately 12,000 applicants, 205 were selected for the YC winter cohort. This is the first time that two Iowa-based startups have been selected for Y Combinator.
“This was the lowest acceptance rate by YC to date,” said Joel Harris, co-director of Ag Startup Engine. “In spite of that, two Iowa built and based companies, both from the Ag Startup Engine portfolio and with ties to Iowa State University, were selected. Recognition from a leading program like Y Combinator is terrific for Nebullam and LEAH Laboratories, but also an inspiration for other entrepreneurs about the quality of technology businesses being started in the Heartland.”
Both companies will be pitching to investors later today as part of Y Combinator’s Demo Day.
Previous coverage
Leah Laboratories receives seed investment from Ag Startup Engine -Jan. 16, 2019
Middlebit: Nebullam one of six finalists for inaugural IFT Next Food Disruption Challenge -July 20, 2018
Nebullam: Indoor farming -April 17, 2018