Hartford’s Project Ray In Texas To Compete In Startup Night SXSW
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Project Ray, an Israeli company that expanded into Hartford late last year, is competing in this weekend’s Startup Night SXSW.
The technology startup caters to the visually impaired by developing devices and apps for eyes-free smartphone accessibility.
Project Ray says it created the first adhesive tag that turns a smartphone into a tactile device, and its Ray Vision app allows users to communicate and use digital services through gestures, voice recognition and haptic feedback, vibrations and other sensations that simulate the physical feeling of virtual objects.
The company is one of 25 contenders in Saturday’s Startup Night in Austin, Texas, presented by the The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The competition is part of the American Cities House at SXSW, a celebration of 13 cities — Hartford not included — and their inclusive, impactful startup communities, from major cities like Miami and Dallas to Fargo, N.D., and Little Rock, Ark.
The startups are competing for a $1,000 cash prize and entrance to the Startup of the Year semifinals competition at San Francisco’s Innovate Celebrate 2018 conference in October.
Meanwhile, Project Ray — founded in Israel — is also one of 22 companies growing its business in the third annual startup accelerator at reSET, a business incubator tailored to social enterprises. The accelerator program in Hartford’s Parkville district stretches from January to May.
But Project Ray already had a presence in the city when it joined reSET. CEO Boaz Zilberman started renting office space at Upward Hartford last year after meeting with that organization’s CEO, Shana Schlossberg, who does regular outreach to Israeli companies.
Project Ray also recently received a $150,000 loan from Connecticut Innovations. Once Zilberman arrived in Hartford, he applied to join the latest reSET cohort.
“This is the type of ecosystem we need in order to bring in business, to push it forward,” he said in late December.
