At-Home Learning

Companies come together to provide free school & district licenses during COVID-19 

Today, RevRoad and its portfolio companies launched the official At-Home Learning initiative. Through this initiative, they will provide students around the country with digital learning tools by offering their products to schools and districts for free during this time—no strings attached. 

There’s no question that these are difficult times. Hundreds of millions of students around the world are transitioning to at-home learning for the rest of the school year. “Educators around the world are now facing the most daunting challenge in 100 years. These programs and tools are ready to scale, and can provide valuable support for students, their families, and educators,” says RevRoad CEO, Derrin Hill. 

Educators are quickly shifting teaching and learning to digital platforms to meet the needs of each student with equitable access, standards, and engagement. RevRoad’s portfolio has a unique compilation of edtech companies with the ability to assist in smoothing over the rapid transitions currently happening within education. Said companies include the following: 

Literal

Keep students fully engaged in reading, even while at home. Literal makes books just as engaging as social media, and is temporarily offering every student and educator free & unlimited access to all of their classic books through July 2020. Easily track student progress remotely and turn reluctant readers into avid book worms.
Literal is offering schools and districts free access to the Classic subscription.

SkillStruck

Skill Struck focuses on helping today’s students prepare for tomorrow’s workforce by developing their technical skills and helping them master the concepts of Computer Science. The platform is focused on project-based learning where students learn, apply and reiterate their newfound knowledge through additional practices to cement their skills.
Skill Struck is offering schools and districts one month of free access to their flagship Voyage service.

Education Lifeskills

If we never change negative thinking, we will never change negative behavior. Education Lifeskills creates cognitive-behavioral curriculum which helps students overcome their self-defeating thoughts and behaviors and achieve higher levels academically and socially.
Education Lifeskills is offering students free access to a positive thinking course pack.

Hallo

Practice English on the Hallo app! Has the Coronavirus pandemic interfered with your preparation for the TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS exam? Has your English class been canceled and now you are left with no one to practice with?

Fear no more! You can practice English on the Hallo app! Hallo is a live streaming community for English learners and teachers. Students can learn from native speakers through live videos 24/7 and practice speaking in seconds with people all around the world. It’s the world’s largest classroom for English learners right in the palm of your hand. And, it’s free. Let’s celebrate fluency together. It’s more fun that way.
Hallo is a free app available for iOS and Android.

To get started with At-Home Learning  for free, visit revroad.com/athomelearning.

For more information about At-Home Learning and the companies involved, click here.

Keepin’ it Clean—Why We Gave Every Employee a PhoneSoap

COVID-19 has already caused different levels of panic worldwide, and it seems things are just ramping up. There are plenty of recommendations about how to stay safe and healthy floating around the web. We agree, washing our hands, applying sanitizer, covering our mouths when coughing and sneezing, and other basic hygiene and health practices should be carried out. However, what precautions are we taking when it comes to one of the dirtiest, most touched items in almost every household? The cell phone.

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RevRoad’s Announces Annual Entrepreneur Competition

PROVO, Utah — On Saturday, March 21st , Utah County’s top entrepreneurs will all gather at RevRoad HQ for the opportunity to pitch their game-changing, scalable company to panels of Utah’s most successful.

Often, the most important moment in an entrepreneur’s life is pitching their business to an investor (techcrunch.com). RevRoad’s Annual Entrepreneur Competition helps companies learn how to pitch their business with confidence and provides an opportunity to network. 

Each participant must complete a thorough application process as well as 2 rounds of live pitches for a panel of 24 judges—gathered from top business and university leaders. Using criteria including target market, problem/solution fit, team and advisors, leadership, traction, competitive advantage, financials and more, the judges will select the top 3  as finalists. All applications for the pitch competition are due Friday, March 6, 2019 by 11:59 pm. 

The three winning finalists will receive prizes:

  • $10,000 cash for the Champion
    (Cash prizes are NOT tied to an investment or equity.)
  • $2,500 cash for 2nd Place
    (Cash prizes are NOT tied to an investment or equity.)
  • $1,000 cash for 3rd Place
    (Cash prizes are NOT tied to an investment or equity.)

This event is free and open to the public, so the community will also get the chance to award a cash prize. The company that gets the most audience votes will receive:

  •  $1,000 as the Fan Favorite
    (No conditions or terms of use are associated with this prize.)

Competition sponsors are:

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For media inquiries, interviews or additional information, please contact RevRoad CMO A.J. Rounds at aj.rounds@revroad.com or by calling  (801) 368-1823.

About RevRoad

Did you know 9 in 10 new innovations fail in the marketplace? RevRoad focuses on helping you, the entrepreneur, succeed. RevRoad accepts 3–4 companies per quarter, if chosen you work side-by-side with us for two years. Along the way, you’ll experience everything you need: a mentor, networking opportunities, and key service deliverables. The RevRoad model is a venture services model to better meet your needs.

RevRoad’s Portfolio Supports Two Companies in the Startup World Cup Regional Finals

On Thursday, January 30th, Startup World Cup held their final round for the Utah region. This highly competitive pitch-off took place on the main stage at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit . After reviewing over 100 applicants, 10 companies were selected to advance to the final round. Among the finalists were Hallo and Savology, two outstanding companies in RevRoad’s portfolio. 

The judges panel highlighted some of Utah’s most respected including: 

Vanessa Quigley: Chatbooker-in-chief at Chatbooks.com

Karl Sun: Co-Founder and CEO at Lucid Software

Sam Stoddard: CEO at SimpleCitizen

Gavin Christensen: Founder and Managing Partner at Kickstart Seed Fund

Kat Kennedy: Chief Experience Officer (CXO) at Degreed

Each company had the chance to present a 5 minute pitch followed by a  2 minute Q&A with the judges panel. The excitement and anticipation from each participating company was evident. 

Third to present, Hallo brought energy and competition by including their organically grown audience numbers which land at 10,000 new weekly users and 400,000 total users. They continued to impress the judges by including a live product demonstration of their unique live language learning platform.  

Immediately following Hallo, Savology took the stage. Highlighting growth since their December launch, Savology outlined their  solution for the lack of financial direction among millennials and rising generations. 

“This is great representation from RevRoad. In addition to making a good showing in front of the judges, each company that participated used the event as an opportunity to meet with other investors and business leaders in the Utah entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Derrin Hill – CEO at RevRoad

Both Hallo and Savology demonstrated extreme professionalism as they delivered their polished 5 minute pitches and gave exceptional answers during the judges Q&A portion. Though neither were selected to progress to the Grand Finalé event in Silicon Valley, both received incredible feedback and exposure through their participation in the event. 

RevRoad is proud of the hard work, grit and innovative drive of the entrepreneurs in our family of companies, and we look forward to big things in the future.

Congratulations to the competition winner, Axon Optics––we wish them luck at the Grand Finalé event. A special thanks to Silicon Slopes, Startup World Cup, the judges panel, and supporting community groups for including Utah’s startup community in this competition. 

Learn more about Hallo here.

Learn more about Savology here. 

Have a startup? Learn more about how to become part of RevRoad’s portfolio here. 

RevRoad to Hold 2nd Annual $10K Entrepreneur Competition

Competition Winners

PROVO, Utah — RevRoad will hold its second entrepreneur competition this spring, with a $10,000 cash prize for the winning company and thousands in additional prizes.
Applications are due March 8, and the final pitch event and award ceremony will be held April 13, from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and will be held at RevRoad HQ, 1555 N Freedom Blvd. in Provo, Utah.
Guests are welcome to watch Utah’s hottest new startups pitch, watch Cosmo & the Dunk Team perform and grab some good eats from on-site food trucks.
Last year, RevRoad’s first entrepreneur competition garnered 40 semifinalists, 12 finalists, and three cash prize winners.
This year, the winning company will be chosen based on business model, problem validation, sales pitch, pitch deck and more. Click here for full rules. Contestants are invited to apply at ecomp.revroad.com. They will need to fill out a lean canvas and submit a video about their business or idea. Semifinalists will be notified via email on March 26, 2019.
For more information and answers to all your questions, email info@www.revroad.com.
For media inquiries, interviews or additional information, please contact RevRoad CMO A.J. Rounds at aj.rounds@www.revroad.com or by calling 801-368-1823.

RevRoad Says Goodbye to Rebecca Palmer, Wordslinger Extraordinaire

As our communications champion embarks on a new journey, she shared these beautiful words about her time at RevRoad:


A farewell, a thank you and a great big leap
On my first day at RevRoad, in a tiny office above a construction company in Mapleton, I learned about 3 core values: grit, growth and +1, or going the extra mile every day.
Each day since then, I’ve seen those values on display. I saw extraordinary hard work and creativity from employees and leadership alike, and I saw that ethic being passed on to the courageous founders of our portfolio companies.
I also saw RevRoad and our portfolio companies go above and beyond as a matter of course — everything from doing extra work and favors to offering kindness and understanding in times of need.
It was growth, however, that has defined my experience at RevRoad: growth of our company as a new startup, growth of the team as we learned and pivoted to meet the needs of the market, and growth of the companies we accepted into the RevRoad family.

Grit and growth of my own

In the past 18 months, I also got the chance to grow. I learned about the importance of realistic optimism, the value of moving quickly and the magic formula for building a successful business: solving a real, costly problem in the marketplace.
I also learned about the value of taking risks and doing big, scary things.
It was partly with this ethos in mind that I recently decided to take a big risk of my own. I am going to leave friends, family and a truly great job to follow my passion for journalism. I have accepted a job in Boise, Idaho, as special sections editor for the Idaho Business Review.
I started my career in journalism, and I believe strongly in the power of information to change the world. In today’s economic and political environment, we need fair, unbiased and thorough reporting more than ever. I have the skill, ability and interest to play an important role, and I feel compelled to honor my convictions and dedicate my life to the mission.
Thursday’s RevRoad University will be my finale.

Gratitude and friendship, now and in the future

As the RevRoad team has grown, I’ve had the opportunity to do amazing things. I have loved working to help Momni spread the word about a new solution for childcare, and I truly believe the company can improve the lives of mothers and children everywhere. I have been humbled to work with ACCI to spread the word about its incredible platform that helps people change their lives by changing the way they think. I have relished the opportunity to learn about artificial intelligence and machine learning with useAIble, and about narrowband trackers and retail marketplaces with Elios and XION.
I could go on, but I think it’s clear: I have had the chance to dip my toe into many exciting industries and wonderful projects, and I will take the lessons I learned into my next chapter in Idaho.
I am excited to watch the progress of RevRoad and all its portfolio companies from afar, and I know big things are ahead.
I will be leaving Provo, but in many ways, I won’t be leaving the RevRoad family. I won’t forget the friendship and kindness I saw here, nor the professionalism and expertise of the team. Here’s to keeping a line open, wherever my journey takes me!

We wish Rebecca well on her grand adventure. We will miss her wit and creativity, her penchant for taking an analytical perspective and her willingness to dive right in on new and complicated projects. We’ll also miss her biting humor, her epic Halloween costumes, her love of coffee and her sly little way of getting us all in bow ties and silly hats!
While we bid adieu, we are busy looking for another excellent writer, publicist and social media expert to fill her role. Please send applicants to this job description, and watch this space for updates!

RevRoad Companies Shine in Silicon Slopes Competition

Hallo at Silicon Slopes Competition

Of 32 companies accepted to the first round in the Silicon Slopes Startup Competition in Lehi, Utah, 4 were RevRoad portfolio companies.
XION Retail, Skill Struck, HaLLo and Journeyfront pitched live in front of the judges in the hopes of winning a $250,000 investment with Peak Ventures.
“This is great representation from RevRoad,” said CEO Derrin Hill. “In addition to making a good showing in front of the judges, each company that participated used the event as an opportunity to meet with other investors and business leaders in the Utah entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
On Jan. 31, HaLLO and Journeyfront were invited to participate in the final round.

Daniel Ash, Founder and CEO of Journeyfront, tells judges how his SaaS platform helps companies hire better employees using artificial intelligence.
Daniel Ash, Founder and CEO of Journeyfront, tells judges how his SaaS platform helps companies hire better employees using artificial intelligence.

Joon, Cofounder and CEO of HaLLo, tells how English learners can connect to practice from anywhere in the world.
Joon, Cofounder and CEO of HaLLo, tells how English learners can connect to practice from anywhere in the world.

RevRoad is proud of the hard work, grit and innovative drive of the entrepreneurs in our family of companies, and we look forward to big things in the future.
We’re taking the Utah entrepreneurial scene by storm!

RevRoad Portfolio Partner Momni Secures $1.75M in Funding

Momni Team

In July of 2018, Karmel Larson and the Momni team joined the RevRoad family. It was among the first drops of what will grow to be a tsunami.
Within weeks, Karmel secured coverage on the Dr. Phil Youtube channel. The story about the global childcare crisis caught the attention of more than a million viewers, and soon local press took notice.
Moms from around the country joined as Momnis, apps were published, and a rivulet formed.
On Friday, the Momni team turned those first droplets into a roaring river. She and her team secured a total of more than $2 million in funding to aggressively develop new features and open new markets for caresharing around the world.
The round was led significantly by Tamarak Capital, a Utah family office, and was accompanied by investors from Utah venture service firm RevRoad and angel investors.
“Now the Momni family is getting bigger, bigger and bigger and I”m feeling so grateful today,” Karmel said during the signing celebration. “I am so grateful for all the support I’ve received as Momni has taken off.”

Momni’s Beginnings

Larson was inspired to start Momni after learning about the global childcare crisis in 2017. The company released iPhone and Android apps earlier this year to help moms connect with one another digitally.
Momni’s platform connects moms’ existing network of friends they already know and trust. Most recently, the company was featured on the Dr. Phil Youtube channel.

Family First

Fighting back tears, Karmel expressed thanks to her first supporters — her husband and children.
“Brigham was our first investors and the secret behind the power of Momni,” she said, “And my children have sacrificed so much to have their mother be a part of Momni. Thank you so much for supporting their mother so other mothers can have childcare.”

Funding for Women-led Startups

Before the signing part on Friday, Karmel expressed gratitude to Tamarak for seeing the promise in her company.
“Statistics show that it’s hard for female startup founders to get funding, and I am encouraged by the overwhelming interest we’ve received to help moms worldwide support one another with a cutting-edge and network-based childcare platform,” she said.
“Few things are as socially significant as what Momni is focused on” said Nate McBride, partner at Tamarak Capital. “Momni is making a difference for families worldwide by harnessing technology to both improve the quality and accessibility of childcare in our communities — all while allowing Moms an additional source of income to improve their own lives. We have been so impressed with the Momni team, their product, and the impressive traction they’ve generated so quickly. They are a very talented team, working on a significant challenge, and we are proud to work with them in solving it for good.”
Larson considers Momni’s recent round to be an encouraging step in the right direction for female entrepreneurship, although female founders still encounter difficulty in raising funds.
A study released by the Boston Consulting Group and MassChallenge, a network of startup accelerators, found disparity in the size of deals as well. The average female-founded startup received $935,000 in funding, compared to $2.1 million awarded to the average male-founded startup. That’s despite the fact that female-founded startups performed better, bringing in 78 cents on the dollar in five years compared to 31 cents for men.
For Karmel, the funding is a sign of progress for women in entrepreneurship. But most importantly, it shows the power of what Momni will become.
“We are growing from a drop to a stream, to a river, to an ocean, to a wave, to a tsunami, she said, brimming with joy. “We will conquer the earth with this Momni tsunami.”

About Momni:

Momni is a revolutionary, sharing-economy tech company that seeks to link all moms everywhere for caresharing. Momni offers instant access to trusted care by mothers in your Momni Circle and community. The company works closely with the Momni Foundation to provide caresharing opportunities to women and families in the developing world as a solution to the global childcare crisis.

CES Honors Elios Narrowband Trackers with Innovation Award

Elios Tracker

RevRoad portfolio partner Elios has been on fire in recent months, refining the capabilities of the first narrowband tracker available in the US market.
Late last month, Elios announced that it had been named a CES® 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree. The announcement was made during CES Unveiled New York, which showcased many of the products and trends expected at CES 2019 in January in Las Vegas, Nev.

What are Elios Trackers?

The Elios GPS trackable power bank combines portable power with smart innovation. This device can be placed in pockets, bags, luggage, purses or other valuables. It relies on low-power narrowband technology rather than GPS or Bluetooth alone and can be used for safety, tracking, and power from anywhere in the world.
Elios trackers are focused on personal safety and locating the people, pets and things that matter most. The tracker and companion app feature SOS alerts, geofence, movement alarms, and more. They also offer extended coverage outside traditional mobile phone networks, making them great for “off the grid” use.

Recognized for Innovation

Every year, the CES Innovation Awards recognizes honorees across 28 product categories. Elios trackers were recognized in the Smart Energy category, which focuses on devices that power consumer products. Of 13 featured innovations, Elios offered the only device that combines global trackability with state-of-the-art portable power.
“We are excited to be named a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree,” said Elios CEO Josh Cross. “Our team has worked hard to be innovative and provide products that help improve safety and security.”
Elios’ Global GPS Tracker w/ Narrowband (NB1/LTE/GSM/BLE) will be on display in the Innovation Awards Showcase at CES 2019. The complete list of CES 2019 Innovation Honorees, including product descriptions and photos, can be found at CES.tech/Innovation.
Anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of the new products is encouraged to visit booth 50524 in Eureka Park.

About Elios:

Elios, Inc., is located in the heart of the Silicon Slopes and has years of experience developing bleeding edge power and tracking technology for people on-the-go. Industries benefiting from our products include: law enforcement, travel, outdoor, filmmaking, academia, global exploration, and many more.

Elios Unveils New Name, Expands Global Connectivity Offerings

Elios Charger

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Provo, Utah — After more than four years of success with on-the-go power products for professional travelers, GoPlug Bags is now part of the Elios family.
The innovative company will focus on products that combine global trackability and portable power for unprecedented safety and security. The proprietary technology lets customers track what matters most, anywhere in the world.
In addition to finding the items and people most important to them, customers can protect themselves when they are lost or in danger. The new lineup of portable chargers will include discreet SOS panic buttons that work in more than 210 regions and countries throughout the world.
“Elios will continue building out GoPlug’s technologies and provide customers with the best travel, personal safety, and consumer electronic markets,” said Steve Dalley, Elios COO.
The rollout of the Elios GPS trackable power bank will be combined with crowdfunding efforts on Kickstarter. New product offerings will include the Cricket, a micro GPS tracker, and the Dragonfly, a GPS tracking power bank. These personal security devices can be used to track children, pets, luggage, electronics and more.

Innovations in Narrowband Tracking

Elios uses narrowband technology, which is new to GPS trackers and represents the latest in IoT (Internet of Things) technology. Narrowband technology uses a much narrower band of frequencies than traditional mobile networks such as GSM or LTE but reaches much further and requires much less power.
“Life shouldn’t be controlled by your batteries, and we solved that,” said Josh Cross, CEO. “But it shouldn’t be restricted by the reach of your Bluetooth either.”

About Elios:

Elios, Inc. is located in the heart of the Silicon Slopes, with years of experience developing bleeding edge power and tracking technology for people on-the-go. Industries benefiting from our products include: law enforcement, travel, outdoor, filmmaking, academia, global exploration, and many more. In addition to helping companies and individuals track what’s most important to them, Elios pledges a portion of its proceeds to helping solve two of the largest issues in the world today: personal safety and access to electricity.