HAXLR8R, the Shenzhen, China and San Francisco hardware accelerator that works with startups to teach them how to manufacture their own products, has changed its name to the friendlier HAX Accelerator as of this Monday. It also now has up to $300,000 to offer participants in its program, up from $100,000, according to Benjamin Joffe, a general partner.
Joffe said that the accelerator would also add a program called Boost to help startups focus on sales and distribution after they have managed to get their prototypes up and funded. He explained that many startups were doing well working with manufacturers on the prototyping and building side but when it came to getting the sales and marketing and distribution channels they sometimes fell down a bit. The goal with expanding the program to include Boost was to help startups navigate the rest of the business process once they had built their hardware.
HAX is one of several accelerators focused on hardware, with one of the mostly widely know other program being the Highway1 accelerator operated by PCH. Joffe explains that Highway1 is a bit different in part because it doesn’t train startups to source their own factories, and instead “acts as a middleman” between the startups and the Chinese supply chain. HAX wants to startups to take on every aspect of learning to source and control their own manufacturing destiny.
The HAX program accepts startups from around the world, and in the three years since it has begun, has worked with about 65 companies. Its first year it had 10 startups and supported them with $25,000. Last year it had two classes with 15 startups in each class receiving about $100,000 each. Monday it hosts a demo day in San Francisco with several exciting technologies on display such as a 3D printer that can print fabrics from Electroloom, a connected blood testing kit and connected insoles to help prevent foot amputations related to diabetes.