DLA Piper and StartOut welcome newest cohort of Growth Lab companies

The StartOut Growth Lab, a DLA Piper-sponsored accelerator aimed at advancing startups founded or cofounded by LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, has welcomed its eleventh cohort of companies, each focused on transforming their respective industries.

Led by StartOut, the country’s largest nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, and currently in its sixth year, the Growth Lab has helped 65 early-stage companies raise more than US$763 million in funding and create more than 3,650 new jobs across the country.

Each cohort receives support including mentoring from DLA Piper lawyers and other professionals, education, access to capital sources, and networking opportunities.

“Economic empowerment is crucial to the success and progress of the LGBTQ+ community, and the entrepreneurs behind these startups, through their contributions, are drivers of continued social advancement,” said Thomas Gaynor, a partner in DLA Piper's Corporate practice, a board member of StartOut, and co-founder of the Growth Lab. “We are proud to support this important endeavor and thrilled at its ongoing success.”

The eleventh cohort consists of the following companies:

• A Leading Role (Los Angeles, CA): On a mission to create the most iconic and beautifully designed dress-up and costume brand in the world.
• CROOW (Tampa, FL): Built a collaboration platform on software that leverages workflows and efficiencies to streamline video production and change the way that studio-quality video is produced.
• Developmate, Inc. (San Antonio, TX): Simplifies site selection for real estate developers by combining data and analytics onto one easy-to-use mapping software.
• Detexian (San Diego, CA): Helps modern workplaces to reduce SaaS spend and risk by empowering IT to be trusted advisors of business teams.
• Dyllen’s College Essay Advice (Los Angeles, CA): Empowers students to discover their sense of self and effectively communicate their personal values, experiences, and potential in well-crafted college admission essays.
• Ecotone Renewables (Pittsburgh, PA): Building the tools to make sustainable food and agriculture systems accessible to local communities.
• FULL (Middletown, DE): Gives individuals the tools to feed themselves in health-first, tech-enabled community gardens on rooftops and lawns globally.
• Mate Fertility (Los Angeles, CA): Solving fertility access issues in the US through its solution-based focus on equality of access and care.
• Netfolios (Sydney, Australia): Provides in-depth climate analytics tools and data to help the global investment community manage and report climate impacts. Netfolios supports financial institutions in assessing climate-related risks and opportunities and reducing their financed emissions to reach net zero.
• Tinkery (Sydney, Australia): Makes prototyping kits that encourage learners to creatively apply STEM principles and build devices that tackle personal and global challenge.

About StartOut

Founded in 2009, StartOut, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is the largest national organization to support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs with over 25K members nationwide. Its mission is to accelerate the growth of the LGBTQ+ community to drive its economic empowerment, building a world where every LGBTQ+ entrepreneur has equal access to lead, succeed, and shape the workforce of the future. StartOut helps aspiring LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs start new companies; supports current entrepreneurs as they grow and expand their existing businesses; and engages successful entrepreneurs as role models and mentors, on its online portal and through targeted events nationwide. For more information, please visit www.startout.org.