Stanford’s Cardinal Ventures accelerator to host online demo day on Dec. 3

Participants in the fall program of Stanford’s premier non-profit accelerator will virtually showcase their early-stage companies on December 3, with the goal of winning the attention and funding of an audience of media and investors. 

The demo day, slated to be held from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Pacific Time, will feature startups that were hosted by Cardinal Ventures known as CV—the only equity-free accelerator at Stanford that is run exclusively by and for students. 

With two cohorts per year, the 10-week program supports 12 to 20 teams at the earliest stage, offering them access to a robust entrepreneurship curriculum and a worldwide network of mentors, investors, and other accelerators. 

Stanford is well known for its success in spinning out startup founders, with some of the tech industry’s most famous companies such as Google, Cisco, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram having got their start in the halls of the prestigious university. 

This winning streak has been furthered by the CV program, which has served as a springboard in the entrepreneurial journey of 115+ companies and 200+ founders in 10 cohorts since 2015. 

Its alumni, which includes Firefly, OhMyGreen, Nova Credit, and Mammoth Biosciences, have collectively raised over $349 million in capital from Sequoia, First Round, Y Combinator, Tim Cook, Marissa Mayer, and more.

According to the organizers of Cardinal Ventures Fall 2020 Demo Day, affordable phone banking for advocacy, virtual reality social media, automatic code documentation, and global airdrop for large media files are some of the areas being explored by the fall batch. 

While the list of startups that will present at Demo Day has not been officially announced, Cardinal Ventures’ Medium page provides some clues via spotlights of current startups in the cohort.

For example, Anthro Energy creates “flexible, safe, and high-performance batteries that provide a multifold improvement in capacity to wearable electronic devices.” Its innovative solution promises a new paradigm and set of capabilities for wearables by shattering the design constraints facing device manufacturers. 

Explorist is another ambitious startup in the cohort. The company is on a mission to “redefine travel” in light of the coronavirus pandemic and has developed a platform for travelers looking for personalized experience recommendations. 

It uses a system powered by artificial intelligence to determine traveler preferences and suggest experiences from a curated database of unique experiences.

Additionally, Exponent is a learning platform that helps users prepare for interviews in technical fields such as product management and engineering. 

Its premium courses include hands-on coaching, interview lessons, questions, and complete answers with video walkthroughs. In addition, Exponent gives job seekers access to hours of mock interviews with expert insights and tips.

Those who are interested in meeting the next generation of potentially world-changing entrepreneurs and companies coming out of Stanford can register here and attend the event for free. Applications for the next cohort open in winter 2021.