Lighthouse Labs rebrands to Lighthouse Network

Richmond-based accelerator Lighthouse Labs last week announced it is expanding its services and rebranding itself as Lighthouse Network.

Since its founding in 2012, Lighthouse has supported 149 companies, raised over $350 million in capital, helped founders raise an average of $1.8 million each and created over 1,500 jobs. The accelerator’s 11-week program provides founders with support from mentors, industry experts and investors, and free office space.

Managing Director Debbie Irwin said the accelerator is rebranding to reflect various changes in its operations, including creating multiple initiatives and programs to help startup companies and founders who have already completed the 11-week program. She said this new effort is meant to continue to help companies grow post-acceleration.

While the accelerator will still offer an 11-week program, it will only be for one cohort a year instead of two, Irwin said.

“What that helps us to do is, on the second half of every year, we now get to dig into all of the founders who have ever gone through Lighthouse and make sure that they’re supported in the way they need to be supported,” Irwin said. “And so that’s giving them additional investor roadshow opportunities, giving them additional mentor support, helping them with their [fundraising] if they are raising, and then also building out additional curriculum that they can participate in based on the level of growth that they’re in.”

She said Lighthouse is currently testing a new program to support startups that are a little further along than the ones entering the 11-week program but still need the mentors and the connections that Lighthouse has. Several startups struggled with sales in their earlier days, she added, and Lighthouse is launching a sales operations curriculum — bringing in some of its best mentors — to conduct several sessions to help the startups improve their revenue and sales operations.

“So it gives us a much more robust service offering to the companies that we’re supporting, and really helps us go back to our mission of investing in the lives of founders, because now this support is very founder-centric and founder development-focused, rather than just like, ‘Let’s help the company accelerate for three months,’” Irwin said.

Later this year, Lighthouse will launch its first founder summit, inviting any founder who has ever gone through Lighthouse to come to Richmond for 2 1/2 days, Irwin said. The summit will allow alumni to know each other better, reconnect with mentors, reconnect with investors and work on their businesses.

Since most new programs and initiatives target Lighthouse alumni, Irwin said they are not reflected on the new website. Lighthouse, which has three staff members, will contact alumni to inform them of the new programs it offers.