The James Madison University Bluestone Seed Fund has announced $15,000 in new investments, adding two companies to the portfolio. Investments now total $25,000 in five startup companies.
The new companies include:
BarTrack
Founded by Brett Danielson (JMU ’18, business) and Hunter Markle (JMU ’18, marketing), BarTrack is a hospitality technology company that is revolutionizing the way that bars, breweries and restaurants manage their inventory and, ultimately, eliminate waste. Their beverage sensor monitors draft quality, compares pours to sales, and provides real-time keg levels and alerts. BarTrack recently welcomed Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia as a customer. The company received a $10,000 investment from the Bluestone Seed Fund.
RecRe
RecRe is an autonomous recreational rental box that offers short term rental access to hundreds of items college students want & need. RecRe lockers are placed in dorms, off campus apartments & anywhere convenient for college students. The company, founded by Griffin Harrington (JMU ’15, media arts and design) and Nick Sipes (JMU ’17, materials science), will be running a two-month trial on the JMU campus starting in late February. It received a $5,000 investment from the Bluestone Seed Fund.
The two companies join startups Tow Ninja, Handicans and Gewd Botanicals in the inaugural investment cycle of the Bluestone Seed Fund.
The Bluestone Seed Fund, managed by the Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship, is a donor-backed investment fund that provides equity investments in JMU affiliated startups, while also providing hands-on venture investing experience for JMU students, via the Student Venture Associates program. The program is the first of its kind at JMU.
Beginning with the spring investment cycle, the fund is open to any JMU student-led startup or JMU alumni-led startup, if the alumni is within five years of graduation. Interested donors to the fund can invest here.
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