FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 17, 2018

Oregon State Spinouts ‘Clean Up’ at Willamette Angel Conference.

CORVALLIS, Ore.

Two clean technology companies affiliated with Oregon State University were among the top finalists at the 2018 Willamette Angel Conference (WAC).

Both companies are graduates of the OSU Advantage Accelerator program. “It was great to see two of our graduates gain additional funding as they start to ramp,” said Karl Mundorff, Director of the Accelerator. The Accelerator assists local startup companies in all stages of their growth and supports the regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem

Bend-based Onboard Dynamics received a $100,000 investment. The company offers a low-cost system for natural gas compression for commercial fleet operators.

Corvallis-based eChemion received a $75,000 investment. The company provides technology that dramatically enhances the lifespan of grid energy storage batteries.

Corvallis-based Wisedoc, also an Accelerator client company, won the Speed Pitch competition. Wisedoc received a $2,500 prize for winning the competition. The company is developing software to help researchers quickly and easily format journal articles for submission.

The 2018 Conference raised $495,000 from local angel investors and including Willamette Valley Capital Investors.

The WAC also utilizes student interns from Oregon State University to perform due diligence work. This year’s interns included five from OSU: Shanmukh Prasad Challa, Brianna Renee Falsetto, Scott Laughin, Chiara Marzi, and Brett Wilkerson.

“We are very proud to partner with the Willamette Angel Conference in providing our student interns a great experiential opportunity to develop their analytical skills and be a true member of the diligence teams,” said Mundorff.

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OSU Advantage Accelerator Contacts:

Karl Mundorff, Director

Karl.Mundorff@oregonstate.edu

Sanjai Tripathi, Commercialization Catalyst

Sanjai.tripathi@oregonstate.edu

By Sydney Borek.

“Sneakerheads” are dedicated to fashion and are all about authentic and rare shoes.

Scouring dozens of websites for the ultra-exclusive pair of shoes can be a sneakerhead’s nightmare. Finding the best price on those shoes can add all the more frustration and wasted time.

ShoeBio provides customers with a one-stop option to find the shoe of their dreams at the best price.

Benjamin “Benny” Steinhorn and Mitchell Stebner started ShoeBio near the end of 2017. Steinhorn said that both he and Stebner’s lives have revolved around ShoeBio since then.

They both study Business, Marketing and Entrepreneurship in the OSU College of Business. Stebner approached Steinhorn with the idea after Stebner had a similar experience to what ShoeBio sees as their target market—people who love sneakers but want to pay the lowest price.

“We both worked for Nike and Adidas … with about ten years combined experience. We’ve helped thousands of customers over the years, really heard their stories, experiences and … their struggles, and this is really where this idea got sparked,” Stebner said.

As with any startup, ShoeBio has hit some bumps in the road on their journey to make their idea become reality. The largest they’ve had to overcome is the creation and refinement of their website. They are currently smoothing out issues before releasing it to the public.

Steinhorn wished to share some wisdom he and Stebner have learned saying, “Self-learning and self-teaching and learning through real-world experiences helps you create that ground base [to build your dreams].”

They have been invited to speak at the Innovation Showcase after winning second place in OSU Advantage Accelerator’s Next Great Startup. Steinhorn and Stebner have also won second place in both The New Venture Championship and the Draper Competition at Smith College winning a total of about $30,000 for the improvement of their company.

Stebner and Steinhorn wish to thank all those who have helped them, including OSU Advantage Accelerator, Oregon State University and the advisors and professors who all have fostered the creation of their platform.

Steinhorn and Stebner are excited to launch ShoeBio and would love feedback. Their emails are mitchell@shoebio.com and benjamin@shoebio.com, and they can be found on Twitter at @shoe_bio.

By Sydney Borek.

C and D batteries are heavy, inconvenient, and expensive compared to AAA and AA batteries.

It is a hassle for hikers to carry extra packs of the heavy batteries just for flashlights while most equipment uses smaller sized batteries.

Electric toys for children also often require these larger batteries, causing a need for parents to have these batteries on hand at all times to keep kids happy.

What if every flashlight, toy and other battery-powered device could just take AAA or AA batteries? Then hikers, parents and others would no longer have to keep a stock of the sparsely-used C and D batteries.

Electric Logistics has created a battery adapter that takes the smaller, more common AAA and AA batteries and adapts them into C and D batteries.

The Electric Logistic team consists of five OSU students: Nathan Tamashiro, Alan Li, York Lai, Alex Nguyen, and Yvette Chau. Tamashiro, Nguyen, Chau, and Li are in the College of Business. Tamashiro and Nguyen are studying Business Management, while Chau and Li are studying Marketing. Lai is a Computer Science major within the College of Engineering.

“The big problem [for the consumer] is the inconvenience of having to go to the store [to buy C or D batteries],” Tamashiro said.

To test prototypes, Electric Logistics uses 3D-printing. Since he and the other business majors are not ‘science-y’, as Tamashiro put it, Lai is the one who creates and tests the prototypes.

Tamashiro stated one of the biggest challenges surrounding their student-run company is adjusting to the lack of instructions for the business world. “I think everyone is going to face this challenge when they leave school to work in the real world,” Tamashiro said. “As entrepreneurs, that reality hits you harder than anyone else, because there is really truly no guide or rubric telling you exactly what you need to do.”

Electric Logistics is currently enrolled in the Launch program with the OSU Advantage Accelerator to receive guidance. The company will be sharing their story at the upcoming OSU Advantage Innovation Showcase, on May 8.

The current device from Electrical Logistics, called U-adapt, an AAA to D adapter, and other adapters will be brought to the market soon. Electric Logistics also has a plan to create adapters that work with rechargeable batteries.

Preorder a U-adapt (AAA-D) here: http://www.electriclogisticsllc.com/

Follow Electric Logistics for updates on their products:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/electriclogisticsllc/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elogllc
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/electriclogistics/.