Thirteen Startups Selected for Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas’s Supply Chain & Logistics Program
Bentonville, Arkansas, May 1, 2020 -- Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas has announced the 13 startups selected for its Batch 2 Supply Chain and Logistics Program. The spring program aims to facilitate opportunities for pilots, POCs, and new relationships between the selected batch startups and the Plug and Play global supply chain ecosystem, with a special focus on the corporate partners: Walmart, Tyson Foods, J.B. Hunt Transportation, Georgia-Pacific, and Crowley Maritime and our economic partners: Northwest Arkansas Council, Arkansas Economic Development Commission, Walton Family Foundation, and the University of Arkansas.
“We’re excited to launch our second program and welcome 13 startups to the Northwest Arkansas ecosystem,” says Greg Kessman, Plug and Play’s Northwest Arkansas Director. “In light of COVID-19, we’re progressing the way we work with startups and our corporate partners as it’s even more important now to accelerate supply chain innovation to keep products moving efficiently across the country.”
The startups, chosen by Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas’ anchor partners, represent a variety of technology supply chain solutions including safety wearables, end-to-end software, AI software, and more.
“We’re always going to need to be innovating,” says Jeff Hensley, Vice President of Research and Development at Tyson Foods. “We’ve got to be ready when the economy and when the country gets turned back on. We have to have products and solutions ready for both our consumers and customers. Now, more than ever, we need to turn up the heat on innovation.”
Click below to learn more about the 13 startups participating in the program:
https://automationhero.ai/
Automation Hero combines RPA with AI to form an end-to-end intelligent process automation platform that automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks for knowledge workers.Baton
Baton is a tech-enabled hub and spoke network of drop zones and local drivers that eliminates last-mile inefficiency in long haul trucking.
Cloudleaf, Inc
Cloudleaf enables the next generation of intelligent supply chains. We deliver continuous visibility and actionable insights across the next generation of intelligent supply chain, helping enterprises make the right decisions in real time, to increase revenues, avoid disruptions, improve customer satisfaction and increase sustainability.
Commerce.ai
Commerce.ai is AI that understands consumer feedback at scale, to help automate product and supply chain decisions.
KlearNow
KlearNow is a technology company looking to disrupt a multi-billion-dollar portion of the global supply chain by having the fastest way to clear customs, track shipments and access your critical data in real-time. Period.
Optimal Dynamics
Optimal Dynamics uses advanced AI to automate and optimize logistics and supply chain operations. Our current product, CORE.ai, automates and optimizes load planning, dispatching, and strategic decisions for full truckload operations.
Orderful
Orderful is API for EDI powering supply chains. Improves the global supply chain by enabling buyers and suppliers to immediately trade supply chain data.
Ottopia Technologies
Ottopia is the teleoperation company. Ottopia is the only company that develops and provides all key technologies to control vehicles remotely and safely.
Qboid.ai
3D computer vision sensors merged with modern smartphone functionality into an industrial handheld. Generate instant dimensions, shape and color image of any item, small to large.
Senseye
Senseye is a computational neuroscience company based in Austin, TX that uses video footage of the eye to quantify previously inaccessible cognitive insights. Unlike conventional technologies like functional magnetic resonance imaging or electroencephalography, Senseye’s approach to quantifying brain activity is non-invasive and highly accessible.
Specright
Specifications are the digital thread of the modern supply chain. Specification Management from Specright powers packaging, quality, traceability, procurement, sustainability, supplier management and product development by allowing our customers to manage their supply chain at the most foundational level; the spec.
SVT Robotics
The fastest, simplest way to connect Any robot to Any company! Integrating automation without code development.
Verve (stealth)
Verve commercializes wearable technologies to empower the way people move in the world. Our product is a lightweight, textile-based system that augments and protects industry associates performing physically strenuous tasks such as repetitive lifting and reaching.
The three-month program is structured around focus weeks, discovery meeting sessions, corporate office hours, mentor meetings, pitch polishing sessions, workshops, and networking events. In August, startups will showcase their progress at Plug and Play's Fall Summit, where all batch companies will pitch on stage in front of investors, entrepreneurs, corporations, and other industry leaders. This event is invite-only and reserved for partners, select media, and special guests of Plug and Play.
Plug and Play does not take equity as a prerequisite to joining the program and there is no cost for the selected startups to participate. Plug and Play invests separately from the activities of the program.
About Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas
Established in 2019, Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas is a hub for supply chain and logistics solutions for future-thinking corporations and eager startups to meet and engage. Our program is designed to reflect our vision of bringing together innovators so that we can help revolutionary new ideas grow. https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/arkansas/
About Plug and Play
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play is a global innovation platform with accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 25 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 400 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. Companies in our community have raised over $9 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, Rappi, and most recently Honey. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.
Plug and Play Northwest Arkansas Contact: christine@pnptc.com