Butter to eSports: Sprint Accelerator draws new class of startups from coasts to Canada

Josh Green is used to navigating the streets of Brooklyn, hand delivering artisanal butters, chilled in the back of a pickup, he recalled.

Sprint Accelerator members welcome Will Hickox of RifRaf Ricotta Cups

As founder of Brooklyn Buttery — which crafted a line of flavor-packed, sustainably sourced compound butters designed to bring a high end restaurant experience to home cooks — the entrepreneur’s growth has now spread his startup’s path from its founding in New York to the heart of Kansas City’s startup scene.

Green joined the sixth class of the Sprint Accelerator program Monday, alongside eight other companies from across the U.S. and Canada.

“I was really inspired by Ben and Jerry’s, how they have the funky cool flavors. They were the first ice cream to really do that. And I was like, ‘Well, we can do that with butter,’” Green said, gazing out a window from the accelerator’s new home atop the 24th floor of One Kansas City Place, taking in a panoramic view of Kansas City.

Sprint Accelerator

Seven of the corporate accelerator’s class members benefit from a continued partnership with Dairy Farmers of America, the program said. Two others focus on 5G technology more closely associated with Sprint.

Click here for more information about the accelerator.

“It’s been rewarding to help mentor these entrepreneurs, and we’re thrilled to get started with another class for this year’s accelerator. Plus, we’ve found that we learn along the way too,” says Monica Massey, executive vice president and chief of staff at DFA.

As Sprint embarks on another round of the program — which has spawned successes for such Kansas City startups as Super Dispatch, FitBark, Sickweather, and Mycroft — the company is eager to fold innovations of its own into the program, said Bryan Fries, Sprint vice president, 5G market strategy and global services.

“We’re excited to once again provide mentoring, collaboration and resources that will help fuel the growth of this year’s start up companies through our Sprint Accelerator program,” he said. “We’re about to begin the next generation of wireless in nine markets, including Kansas City. So, this year, Sprint added a new 5G vertical so companies can use our 5G network to bring innovative products and services to customers, that help transform industries such as mobile gaming, entertainment, and transportation.”

Jonathan Yarbor, Nodecraft

Benefiting from that 5G vertical is Nodecraft — a cloud platform designed to give game developers, E-sports tournaments, and direct-to-consumer gamers the ability to create online multiplayer experiences. — founded by Jonathan Yarbor in Oklahoma City.

“Seven years ago I was basically my customer and I was really frustrated,” Yarbor said of how Nodecraft originated. “There just weren’t any companies that really cared enough. Like they just kind of existed and were providing half-baked services.”

Keep reading to see the full list of 2019 accelerator class members.

Ari DeGrote and Tina Peterson, Sprint Accelerator

The companies who make up the 2019 class include:

5G Technology

• Nodecraft (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) — Nodecraft is a cloud platform that enables Game Developers, E-sports tournaments, and direct-to-consumer (gamers) the ability to instantly create unforgettable online multiplayer experiences.

• Portl Media (Toronto, Canada) — Portl Media eliminates idle time by providing education and entertainment options to users through a network of strategically placed media and entertainment screens starting off in rideshare cars.

Ag Tech

• Bezoar Laboratories (Bryan, Texas) — Bezoar’s current innovation is a patent-pending probiotic for cattle that, when paired with nitrate, decreases their methane production by 50%, while providing additional benefits.

• Cattle Care (San Francisco, California) — Using low-cost video cameras Cattle Care detects, recognizes and tracks every cow as well as business processes and makes decisions for the farmer about the treatment of a particular cow or a whole barn.

• Healthy Cow (Toronto, Canada) — Healthy Cow is an ag-biotech helping dairy farmers to produce more wholesome, natural, and nutritious milk while simultaneously reducing their dependence on antibiotics and hormones.

• Labby, Inc (Boston, Massachusetts) — Labby is an AI-powered smartphone platform for food and agro analytics.

Dairy Food Products

• Brooklyn Buttery (Brooklyn, New York) — Brooklyn Buttery is reimagining butter for the 21st century as a fun convenient product for home cooks to turn up the flavor on their dishes using sustainably sourced ingredients.

• Numa (Bridgewater, New Jersey) — Numa makes all-natural sweet, chewy milk treats with just six natural ingredients and four grams of protein.

• RifRaf (Brooklyn, New York) — RifRaf offers cool, creamy ricotta cups that are one part cheese and one part unexpectedly delicious flavor.

Both Green and Yarbor are eager to see how their startups expand throughout the immersive, 90-day program, they said.

“We know we can help resolve a lot of those issues [in the gaming and developer space]. We want to have people stop talking about infrastructure and just focus on gaming,” Yabor said of his hopes and expectations for Nodecraft’s experience with the program and Sprint’s 5G experts.

The program is expected to conclude June 27, culminating with a demo day.

It’s one of our favorite days! Today we welcome the 9 startups of our 6th Cohort of the Corporate Accelerator with @sprint and @dfamilk! To learn more about the companies check out –> https://t.co/YqunA2ZJ2L pic.twitter.com/wdkCOG8fQe

— Sprint Accelerator (@SprintAccel) April 1, 2019