The Roux Institute has selected five companies for its next Founder Residency program, which supports first-time founders and founders from under-represented groups with high-impact, high-growth business ideas.

Its newest cohort includes founders—all of whom identify as BIPOC or female—developing solutions in the areas of food tech, fintech, health tech, e-commerce, and literacy tech. The founders hail from four states across the United States, as close as Maine and as far away as Georgia, but will spend a significant amount of time in Portland during the program.

Each founding team will receive a $25,000 grant to help build their ventures. The grant is intended to lower the barrier of entry for would-be entrepreneurs with a high-growth concept, but who might not have the financial means to support themselves while they develop their product or technology.

“We are excited to welcome five more companies to the rapidly growing portfolio of the Roux Institute Venture Creation and Acceleration Programs,” Chris Wolfel, the Roux’s director of entrepreneurship, said in a statement.

The Roux Institute announced its first Founder Residency cohort in January. Those five startups, plus the 10 additional ones that will descend on the Roux’s Portland campus in September as part of the Roux Institute Techstar Accelerator’s second class, will mean a full house at the Roux.

“Having 20 companies concurrently in programs creates a new type of energy in the greater Portland area,” Wolfel said. “We’re excited to see the momentum continue as these five companies help shape the future of the Maine startup ecosystem.”

The founders and companies in the second 2022 Founder Residency program are:

  • Sangeeth Pradeep Kumar, co-founder and CEO of JotLogs
  • Evelyn Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Meru
  • Tamika Francis, co-founder and CEO of DutchPot
  • Michael Gizachew, founder and CEO of EthioPay
  • Michelle DeBlois, co-founder and CEO of ReMo

ReMo, an EdTech app that helps teachers and students manage their independent learning process, is the Maine-based company in the cohort. It won the TopGun pitch contest in 2020.

Learn more about the founders and their companies in the school’s announcement.