Betaspring launching RevUp

PROVIDENCE-BASED business accelerator Betaspring LLC is launching RevUp, which will shift its focus from fledgling startups to maturing companies already generating revenue.
PROVIDENCE-BASED business accelerator Betaspring LLC is launching RevUp, which will shift its focus from fledgling startups to maturing companies already generating revenue.

PROVIDENCE – After a yearlong break from accepting new startups, the Providence-based business accelerator Betaspring LLC is launching RevUp, which shifts its focus from fledgling startups to maturing companies already generating revenue.
The new company, which is calling itself RevUp by Betaspring, announced the launch on Tuesday and will be headquartered in Providence with a new office in Boston.
RevUp is looking to work with companies generating $10,000 to $15,000 per month with “significant growth potential.” Its goal is to help these companies grow customers and revenue during a three-month immersion program, but unlike Betaspring’s previous model, participating companies will not be required to move to Providence for the program, although they must be available for regular face-to-face meetings with the RevUp team.
Participating companies also receive $75,000 in cash, which RevUp collects back in addition to a percentage of each company’s monthly revenue over a 36-month period.
The first cohort will comprise six to eight companies and RevUp is accepting applications on a rolling basis beginning now until January 2016.
“The world is missing something from using a model that requires outsized exits to drive returns. By focusing on revenue-first startups, RevUp expands the number of great companies we can work with,” Allan Tear, cofounder of Betaspring, said in a statement. “There’s more than one way to build profitable companies that make founders and investors happy.”
The RevUp team comprises Tear and Melissa Withers, both of Betaspring, along with entrepreneur Bill Cesare, who Withers says has been instrumental in the early investing of this new venture. Cesare has been the principal in more than a dozen startup companies and is an active Angel investor. He was also an early investor in Betaspring and cofounder of the successful T-shirt company Teespring Inc.
Unlike Betaspring’s previous model, which took 6 percent of each company’s common stock, RevUp has a non-equity approach, as participating companies will enter into a “revenue royalty” contract, which acts like an unsecured loan.
Upon completing the program, companies will pay 4 percent to 8 percent of each month’s revenue to RevUp over 36 months, according to the company.
RevUp says it follows a six-step process “to help companies build the right internal and external resources to spur growth,” and in a release said the program is a good alternative to companies that “aren’t a good fit for VCs (venture capital firms) or those that chose to delay or forgo equity-based investment.”
“It’s an exciting alternative to the ‘go-billion or go-home’ philosophy of startup investing,” Withers, RevUp managing director, said in a statement.
Betaspring, which began in 2009 and accelerated 89 companies, says it will continue in a supporting role for its program graduates.
“Built on Betaspring’s proven approach for identifying and accelerating high-quality ventures, RevUp is an exciting new way for investors to participate in early stage companies,” Cesare said.

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