Saratoga Entrepreneurs Strut Their Stuff at Startup Event
Julien Bouget tells Startup Saratoga attendees about his company re:Charge-e at the Universal Preservation Hall. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — At Startup Saratoga, an event reminiscent of the hit ABC reality series “Shark Tank,” local entrepreneurs took to the Universal Preservation Hall stage last Wednesday night to pitch their business ideas. After introductory songs like “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant and “Intergalactic” by the Beastie Boys rocked the hall, slide show presentations documented the dollars, cents, and details of each presenter’s venture.
Kirk Becker, co-founder and CEO of Rushdown Studios, discussed his video game company’s many projects and rapid growth.
“We started with three people in 2021 and now we’re 30 people three years later,” Becker said to a round of applause. “We were profitable year one; we doubled our revenue in year two.”
Rushdown’s office, located above the AMC movie theater in downtown Saratoga, houses about half of the company’s employees (the rest are remote workers). The company has contributed to a number of notable games, including PUBG, Among Us, League of Legends, and Last Epoch. Becker said Rushdown is expected to grow to about 100 people, with jobs frequently being posted to the company’s LinkedIn page. He sought advice from event attendees on company growth and talent recruitment.
Foothills Farm co-founder Max Poritzky explained how his company’s solar-powered vertical hydroponic container farm operated. Foothills grows specialty lettuces, leafy greens, and culinary herbs year-round with no pesticides, delivering more than a ton of fresh produce to local restaurants such as Hamlet & Ghost, Kindred, and The Brook Tavern.
Poritzky said he was seeking partnerships with local businesses, governments, and educational institutions.
“I think the technology in farming is sort of a wakeup call,” Poritzky said. “You think about the old farming model, it’s not sexy, right? But I think that we’re in a new time. When you bring students, young students, into this thing, their eyes just blow up. It’s really incredible.”
Julien Bouget, a French-American physicist, discussed his company re:Charge-e, which aims to provide universal charging solutions for electric micromobility. re:Charge-e says it can power more than 100 bikes or scooters with the same amount of energy required to power one electric car.
Earlier this year, re:Charge-e and the Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) deployed a new universal wireless charging station in Amsterdam, New York, in support of CDTA’s bikeshare program. It was the first such installation in the country to use wireless power transfer to charge a variety of shared electric micromobility bicycles.
Bouget said his company is now seeking a $2 million seed investment to help expand this system to the entire Capital Region within the next few years.
The Startup Saratoga event, a collaboration between the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and Startup Tech Valley, also featured speakers from irl Media and P1ston.