2-16-2023 4:21am

Local Student StarTUp

StarTUp Coworking Meet & Greet

Join the StarTUp team for our first coworking meet and greet. Network with other members of the StarTUp coworking community, meet the 2023 Winter StarTUp Accelerator cohort, and enjoy light snacks and beverages.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST
StarTUp at the Armory

Meet the 8 companies comprising StarTUp at the Armory’s first winter cohort

The StarTUp at the Armory is TU’s front door for start-ups, small businesses, as well as our region’s largest corporations. This state-of-the art 26,000 sq. ft. space includes 6,000 sq. ft. of free co-working space and meeting rooms where entrepreneurs and executives can connect with each other and to TU’s programs and people.

They're pursuing solutions in fields as varied as nightlife, youth development, real estate and dentistry.

By Sameer Rao, Technical.ly

FOUNDERS OF COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN THE STARTUP AT THE ARMORY'S WINTER 2023 COHORT.

After several years of running a program that supported some of the Baltimore area’s most promising startups, Towson University‘s executive director of entrepreneurship Patrick McQuown decided to open even more opportunities to ambitious founders by creating a winter cohort for the StarTUp at the Armory accelerator.

McQuown told Technical.ly that this eight-company-strong cohort, which recently started similar programming to the accelerator programming, reflects the strength of a startup community that he affectionately refers to as “Smalltimore.”

“That’s kind of our superpower, right?” McQuown said about the term, adding that members of this cohort came from a mix of applications and suggestions from both within and beyond McQuown’s immediate network at one of Maryland’s largest public universities.

These are the eight companies selected for the winter program:

Let’s Tap In: Founded by three recent Towson alums, this startup developed a mobile app to aggregate user- and venue-submitted information and ratings of bars, restaurants and similar nightlife offerings in the area. After graduating from StarTUp at the Armory’s most recent summer cohort, the company landed a contract with Inner Harbor’s Power Plant Live! complex and landed an honorable mention in Technical.ly’s 2023 RealLIST Startups roster. McQuown said that he brought Let’s Tap In’s founders back “as a mentor company … so that they’re not just hearing from me.”
EriTea: This company creates and distributes iced tea with ingredients, products and a name inspired by cofounder Ruth Behrane-Williams’ family’s experiences fleeing conflict in Eritrea. EriTea secured its spot in this cohort after winning Towson’s College Cup Innovation Challenge last year.
Dental Desires: Based in Timonium, Dental Desires sells toothpaste with flavors like red velvet and tiramisu that its founders hope will make dental hygiene interesting for children and adults alike. McQuown said that this company’s application came via a referral from Lindsay Ryan, the interim executive director of economic development for the University System of Maryland FINISH READING HERE