Lighthouse Labs announces spring cohort

Richmond-based Lighthouse Labs’ next accelerator cohort of eight startups will include companies creating products for the real estate and health care industries. The 16th cohort since Lighthouse Labs opened in 2012 will be part of the program from March 4 to May 17.

The selected companies are:

• 3D Orthobiologic Solutions, a Herndon-based company making 3D medical devices for oral surgery
• Billions, an Arlington County-based company offering a real estate operations platform
• InfraSGA, a Norfolk-based company making products to support green infrastructure
• KnoNap, an Arlington County-based company that makes a product to detect drugs used in drink spiking
• Mindflow, a Nashville, Tennessee-based tech company with a platform supporting mental health needs of student-athletes
• Nightingale Caring Solutions, a Philadelphia-based software company that provides digital scheduling tools for nurses in hospitals
• Phalanx, an Arlington County-based data loss prevention and document mapping company
• WriteHuman, a Midlothian-based tech company with a web-based artificial intelligence writing tool designed to defeat AI detection

As part of the cohort, each company gets $20,000 in equity-free funding, educational programming, mentorship and connections with local partners and investors. Lighthouse Labs will host a meet-the-cohort social on March 6 and a demo day on May 14, and both events are open to the public. The first and final weeks of the 11-week program are spent in Richmond, and the other nine are virtual.

More than 250 companies applied for spots in the cohort, according to a news release. From those, 72 were reviewed. Those were narrowed to 18, which participated in interviews, and eight were invited to join the cohort.

“From a record number of stellar applications, Lighthouse Labs selected eight startups that bring innovative solutions, strong teams and a passion for disrupting their industries,” Art Espey, executive director of Lighthouse Labs, said in a statement. “We’re pleased that six of the eight teams are Virginia-based, with another having strong Virginia ties. The industries vary, but all have founders that Lighthouse Labs felt were a fit for our founder-focused program. The team cannot wait to work with each of them.”

Since its founding in 2012, Lighthouse Labs has accelerated 119 companies and invested more than $2.2 million.