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Loyola鈥檚 Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship has selected 13 companies and social ventures as finalists in the Baltipreneurs Accelerator Program. The second annual cohort of Baltipreneur finalists was selected from a competitive pool of more than 80 applicants. 

鈥淲hile Baltipreneurs is still very new, the word is out, and we reviewed a highly competitive pool of applicants that was 34% larger than last year鈥檚,鈥� said Wendy Bolger, director of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. 鈥淚t made selection tough, but we feel confident we can expect a lot from the 13 ventures that made the cut. Baltimore will be relying on innovators like the Baltipreneurs for the revitalization we need in our economy coming out of the pandemic and our history of racial injustice.鈥�

Participants in the Baltipreneurs Accelerator Program attend 10 virtual sessions from November through February, ending with a Demo Day pitch in early spring.

The recipients will receive business and entrepreneurship instruction from Loyola faculty members and other partners, as well as mentorship, one-on-one pitch training, networking, a $2,000 stipend, and up to $20,000 in additional awards.

The awardees are:

• Afterrhome Inc., a platform that uses artificial intelligence to help users book remote home inspections;
• , a natural air purifying company;
• , a patented combined remediation biomass and bio-product production (CRBBP) Process to plant and multi-tasks bio-crops, to do good things for the health and wellbeing of people, the planet, and local economies, less expensively;
• , a business that sells hand-made jewelry nationally in stores and online;
• , an Asian fusion food stand with restaurants in Baltimore;
• Equalyze, an online platform designed to serve Baltimore鈥檚 small business community by connecting them with knowledgeable undergraduate business students via personalized virtual consultations; 
• , a family-owned dessert company based in Baltimore that specializes in cheesecake;
• , a mindfulness and socio-emotional learning software for children;
• , a Baltimore based 501(c)(3) mentorship non-profit organization established to promote community interdependency and long-term relationships for urban African American youth;
• , an app that assists with equalizing access to property wealth creation for Black Americans鈥攂eginning with homeownership;
• Silent Venus, a company that installs restrooms at any location without major construction;
• , a gourmet hot dog supplier with a mission to change the eating culture in urban communities;
• Supir, a transportation staffing platform that empowers better transit by prioritizing driver freedom, superior customer service, and bus reliability.

Loyola faculty and students are involved in three of the 13 companies and social ventures selected in this year鈥檚 cohort. Maria Jaeckel, 鈥�22, a business management major with a minor in digital media is the founder and designer of Blue Bone Jewelry, which was selected as one of the finalists in this year鈥檚 Baltipreneur cohort.

"I am extremely passionate about making my small business, Blue Bone Jewelry, the absolute best it can be,鈥� said Jaeckel, who is from Warren, N.J. 鈥淭he passion I have for jewelry design gives me a type of energy that is unmatched in anything else I do and I鈥檓 confident that Baltipreneurs Accelerator will allow me to take my small business to the next level. I look forward to meeting my mentor and the other cohorts soon."

For more information on the Baltipreneurs Accelerator Program, visit www.loyola.edu/accelerator.