The Disney Accelerator Program ended with the inaugural Demo Day at The Walt Disney Studios Lot.
The Demo Day gave the 10 participating companies a chance to present their businesses to investors and entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and Disney executives.
The Disney Accelerator Program was an intensive 15-week program where the companies had access to 60 Disney executives, 70 entrepreneurs and investors, and Disney resources. The participating companies also received up to $120,000 in investment capital.
“This group of start-ups has made tremendous progress evolving and growing their businesses in the past fifteen weeks,” said Kevin Mayer, Disney’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development. “It has been a fantastic learning experience for them and an opportunity for Disney to get in on the ground floor with a new generation of innovators. We look forward to the opportunity to work with all of these companies moving forward and to meeting a new set of participants next year.”
During Demo Day one of the companies – Smart Toy – announced that it had been acquired by Cartwheel Kids, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of children’s products. Another Accelerator company, SnowShoe, announced that it secured $2.2 million in seed financing.
Two other companies – Choremonsters and Codarica – launched mobile apps.