Disney Accelerator Showcases 10 Start-Ups at Demo Day

Burbank, Calif., October 14, 2014—Today, Disney Accelerator powered by Techstars culminates in a Demo Day where its 10 participating companies will present their businesses to the investment and entrepreneurial communities, industry leaders and Disney executives.  The Disney Accelerator participants have just finished  a 15-week immersive program that gave them access to mentorship from more than 60 Disney executives as well as 70 entrepreneurs and investors from the business community, up to $120K in investment capital to develop their companies and special access to Disney resources from across the company.

The participating companies have reached many significant milestones during the Disney Accelerator.  At Demo Day, Smart Toy, a company that makes toys that teach, talk, and interact with children, announced today that it has been acquired by Cartwheel Kids, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of children’s products.  In addition, SnowShoe announced that it had secured $2.2 million in seed financing and Choremonster and Codarica both launched mobile apps.  Sphero also introduced its new Ollie product during the program, and Twigtale named as its editor-in-chief Dr. Harvey Karp, the renowned pediatrician and child development specialist.

“This group of start-ups has made tremendous progress evolving and growing their businesses in the past fifteen weeks,” said Kevin Mayer, Disney’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development.  “It has been a fantastic learning experience for them and an opportunity for Disney to get in on the ground floor with a new generation of innovators.  We look forward to the opportunity to work with all of these companies moving forward and to meeting a new set of participants next year.”

The companies participating in Disney Accelerator are:

ChoreMonster – ChoreMonster unites parents and kids with the most ridiculously fun and motivating family framework, so every home is a joyful place.  choremonster.com

Codarica – Codarica creates seriously fun games that teach kids to code. codarica.com

Jogg – Jogg is a mobile video platform that changes the direction of how we engage our audience. jogg.co

Naritiv – Naritiv is a marketing and analytics platform for micro-content, starting with Snapchat. naritiv.com

Sidelines – Sidelines is a people-powered content marketing platform that drives brand influence through discussions by expert fans. sidelinesapp.com

Smart Toy – Smart Toy is a learning toy that talks and listens to kids. Smart Toy can be customized to know your child’s name, teach lessons, and much more. smarttoylabs.com

SnowShoe – SnowShoe creates magic with a touch of plastic. SnowShoe-powered objects unlock digital content through your smartphone. snowshoestamp.com

Sphero – Sphero is the connected play company, fusing digital and physical play by creating toys and robots that you control with a smart device. gosphero.com

Twigtale – Twigtale builds happier families through personalization and expert-fueled storytelling. twigtale.com

TYFFON – TYFFON makes entertaining apps that put you in the center of the fun — founded by the creators of the ZombieBooth series, with over 30 million downloads. tyffon.com

About The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of $45 billion in its Fiscal Year 2013.

About Techstars

The massive Techstars interconnected network of over 3,000 successful entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and corporate partners help the most promising startups do more faster. With 13 programs worldwide, its mentorship-driven accelerators fund the best companies in the most entrepreneurial communities. Since 2006, 80% of the 500 companies from almost 40 Techstars programs have received funding, representing approximately $2 billion in market capitalization.