Current

Categories: Select category Events  (29) Innovation Ideas  (18) Interviews  (30) News  (159) Perspectives  (56) Startups  (91)

The anticipated launch of EduLender‘s OnePay, a new tool made to consolidate existing federal student loans and possibly save consumers money, is now official: currently in public beta, OnePay takes less than a minute to provide a free assessment online. Mentioned here at midVentures a few months ago, the service was launched by EduLender, a student loan comparison search engine that was in the 2010 class at Excelerate Labs and part of mVLAUNCH last year.

According to EduLender, OnePay is a resource that helps users to “combine your federal student loans under one servicer with lower monthly payments than before. OnePay helps you understand your individual loan portfolio so you can make the decision that’s best for you.”

“Consolidating student loan debt isn’t exactly an intuitive process,” founder of EduLender, Suyeon Khim, told midVentures. “For example, there are multiple repayment plans available to people who are looking to consolidate their loans, but it takes quite a bit of work to figure out which repayment plans you’re eligible for and what your monthly payments would be under each of them. This process that can take hours of wrestling to really understand and get right takes seconds with OnePay.”

The OnePay process is simple: through the online assessment, users provide basic info about themselves and their loans. OnePay then shows a summary of those loans, along with how different repayment options would look over time. It’s then possible to consolidate the loans right there or, users may do it themselves through a government website.

“The interface gives you a clear view of your loans, walks you through the application step-by-step (including running all of those repayment calculations for you), and checks your application for errors before you e-file,” Khim added. “OnePay helps you plan your financial roadmap minus the agony.”

For more information on OnePay and to try out the beta version, visit edulender.com/consolidation.

Podio, a new productivity app, is coming to Chicago this week as part of The Podio World Tour, a journey that’s taking its founders across the globe in an effort to connect with new people, build apps with them, and expand an overall understanding of the way people work. Having just finished the kickoff of the tour with a few days in New York City, the tour is heading to Chicago this week—June 8 and 9.

“I’ve heard great things about Chicago, so I look forward to meet and discuss the Future of Work with the local thinkers and movers,” Kasper Hulthin, co-founder of Podio, told midVentures. “We build a platform for the companies of tomorrow, and I hope to find some of those in Chicago.”

“Thousands of U.S. companies have already changed the way they work,” he added. “We hope to meet some of them in Chicago, Boston, L.A. and San Francisco.”

During the company’s two days in the Windy City, it will host two different events: App Camp on Wednesday, June 8, and The Future of Work Panel on Thursday, June 9.

App Camp aims to show how anyone can build apps for projects, recruitment, CRM, or personal workflow through Podio. Experienced users are welcome to come out and connect with the founders, as well.

On Thursday, June 9, the Future of Work Panel will feature a panel of speakers addressing the theme of “The Changing Workplace”—what the future holds for companies as they move from using social media for external communication to using these tools for internal operations.

“The last few weeks, the Podio World Tour has taken this show on the road to visit and learn from local users,” Hulthin said. “In the U.S., we’re hosting a series of conversations on ‘the Future of Work’ with local thinkers to learn more about how we work, today.”

The panel will include host Stowe Boyd, writer and pioneer within social tools; David Armano, from Global Innovation & Integration at Edelman Digital as well as a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review; and Amber Naslund, VP of Social Strategy of Radian6 and author of The Now Revolution.

As far as what’s in store for Podio in the future, Hulthin pointed out the recognition the startup has received recently: “This week, Entrepreneur Magazine included Podio on the list of 100 Brilliant Companies,” he said. “In two weeks, we’re part of the LaunchPad finalists at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston.”

To learn more about Podio World Tour: Chicago, visit company.podio.com/worldtour-chicago. To sign up for the Future of Work event, go to future-of-work-chicago-eventbrite.com.

Pawngo, a startup co-headquartered in Denver and Chicago that’s reimagined the traditional pawn shop, will launch this month for the first time as Pawngo—formerly known as Internet Pawn. Through venture investments by Daylight Partners, Access Venture Partners and Lightbank, the internet pawn shop provides a way for users to get cash without hassle or the chance of debt.

We had a chance to talk to Founder-in-Residence at Lightbank and Vice President of Marketing at Pawngo, Kevin Leland, about what distinguishes Pawngo and where he sees it going in the future.

midVentures: Can you tell our readers a little bit about Pawngo? What exactly does a pawn shop reimagined mean?

Kevin Leland: Pawngo is the first full-service online pawn shop in the U.S., but what makes it reimagined is not just that it’s online. We’re completely changing the pawn experience and making customer service our number one priority. We have a Best Offer Guarantee in which we guarantee our loan or buy offer will not just be better than any other pawn shop, but also any other online marketplace or online buyer of pre-owned merchandise. We also have what we’re calling our Comfort Pledge in which we pledge to make working with us positive, hassle-free experience with customer service beyond your wildest expectations.

mV: Tell us more about your upcoming launch as Pawngo. What can our readers look forward to when the new site goes live on June 7? Will Pawngo be different than Internet Pawn?

KL: Compared to Internet Pawn, the predecessor to Pawngo prior to Lightbank’s investment, you’ll find a much friendly look and feel and a much simpler user experience. Instead of first shipping your item to receive an offer, for example, users will now have the option to receive a preliminary offer before they ship. This offer will include both a buy offer and a loan offer, so users can decide if they want their item back or if they’d rather just sell it and get a little extra money.

mV: What sets Pawngo apart from other similar services?

KL: What makes this so exciting is there’s really nothing like it. Of course, there will be copycats who try to imitate our model, but we’re combining over 25 years of experience in pawning from our partners in Denver along with our experience at Lightbank building disruptive, hugely scalable Internet companies.

mV: What’s your vision for Pawngo in the future?

KL: Our goal is to make pawning mainstream and a legitimate option people consider when they need a loan. This will require a sea change in perceptions, but the fact of the matter is, there’s nothing shady about the act of pawning itself. It’s been happening for over 3,000 years – Queen Isabella even pawned her jewels to pay for Columbus’ voyage. What happened was pawn shops popped up in the bad parts of town and became the rubric of less reputable characters. But from a practical matter, it makes sense financially to use items you already own to get money without going deeper into debt. It’s really one of the most under-used, under-appreciated ways to effectively manage your money.

mV: Anything else you’d like to add?

KL: Soon we’ll be launching a retail store where people can discover and purchase some of the most well-known and hard-to-find luxury brands in fine jewelry, watches and cameras at absurdly low prices.

Sandbox Industries, the Chicago-based venture capital firm and business incubator behind one of Tech Cocktail’s Top 3 startups Excelerate Labs, recently announced its plans to launch Healthbox, a new business accelerator set to be one of the first U.S. accelerators catered exclusively to healthcare startups.

According to director Dan Philips, Healthbox will be filling a key gap in available funding/support for this industry. “Many healthcare investors target more mature companies, leaving few points of access for very early stage companies,” he told midVentures. “The healthcare market is ripe for innovation, and we believe this program will provide a valuable platform to support great ideas that address industry challenges. We see Healthbox as a program that attracts entrepreneurs from around the country and from numerous healthcare disciplines.”

Healthbox plans to select around ten companies in late 2011/early 2012 to participate in its three-month program, utilizing its team of strategic partners and mentors that includes large academic hospitals, industry insiders with operational and domain expertise, accomplished health technology entrepreneurs and general technology entrepreneurs. There are no restrictions on team makeup or company stage, whether single or non-technical.

“We’re looking for entrepreneurs who share our passion for finding the next big idea in healthcare,” said Matt Gabriel, a Sandbox vice president and co-founder of the program. “Our goal is to create a dynamic hub of innovation that offers unrivaled exposure and access to the healthcare market.”

Participants will receive shared legal and marketing services, business education, health industry education, $35K to $50K in capital, office space, and mentorship that culminates in a demo day pitch before a targeted group of angel and venture investors.

For more information on Healthbox or to find information on how to participate, visit Healthbox’s website, which just went live this week: HealthboxAccelerator.com.

Chicago-based startup Gtrot, a Facebook-centric service aimed at helping people make travel decisions, has just landed new funding from Lightbank, in an amount somewhere under $1 million. The company took top prize out of 50 teams in the 2009 Harvard College i3 Innovation Challenge.

“Part of what makes travel so fun is connecting with friends and new experiences,” co-founder Brittany Laughlin told midVentures. “We’re excited to expand our team to truly make travel social.”

Founded in 2009 by Laughlin and Zachary Smith, Gtrot helps users plan, book, and share travel experiences. By pulling information from a user’s trusted connections, it makes it possible to find intersecting itineraries, read friends’ recommendations for a given city, and set up alerts to know when friends are visiting certain locations. Additionally, the resource pulls deals from places like Groupon.

“The best way to get ready for your trip is to share it with your friends,” said co-founder Zachary Smith. “Gtrot makes it easy to connect with Facebook friends who can have an impact on your trip.”

With a simple click, users can notify contacts of upcoming plans and ask for advice. Gtrot then posts a message to each friend’s Facebook wall and pulls all of the related comments back into the site, connected with the user’s posted travel plans.

On the new funding for Gtrot, Paul Lee, a partner at Lightbank, described his own experience with the service: “I am going to travel to San Francisco in the next few weeks. I registered my trip on gtrot and I received an email notifying me which of my Facebook friends will be there. A similar email was sent to them and I have already made plans to have lunch with one of friends while I am there,” he said. “It is a refreshing approach to travel.”

For more information on Gtrot, which has already attracted close to 6,000 users, visit gtrot.com.