Today marks the completion of Apple Entrepreneur Camp’s first year with its fourth cohort of 2019. Apple Entrepreneur Camp is specifically designed for organisations founded and led by women, and dedicated to helping entrepreneurs as they work on the next generation of cutting-edge apps. The camp offers a hands-on technology lab, one-on-one code-level guidance from Apple experts and engineers as well as mentorship, inspiration and insights from top Apple leaders. After the lab concludes, participants get ongoing support and become part of a growing community of exceptional alumni who can help create and build businesses.
Women leaders and their teams from 42 companies have taken part in the cohorts that take place once a quarter. Apple engineers and experts work directly with participants on topics including app development, design, the latest advances in machine learning and augmented reality and, if desired by the attendees, tips for public relations and marketing. Companies are also invited to attend WWDC so they can develop their apps on Apple’s most advanced platforms and continue to build community with industry leaders.
“I’m in awe of the passion and drive of our first year of Entrepreneur Camp innovators. They are using apps to impact peoples’ lives and solve problems, from building connections for underrepresented groups in tech to making solar power affordable and giving people tools to improve mental health,” said Esther Hare, Apple’s senior director of Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor of Women@Apple. “It’s great to hear incredible women leaders telling us their experience at Camp has helped them make their apps even better, and given them the confidence and the tools to build new connections, form support networks and raise rounds of venture capital. And we’re just getting started.”
Meet sisters Jhanvi and Ketaki Shriram, participants in the second cohort of Apple Entrepreneur Camp. They are the founders and creators of Krikey, a mobile augmented reality app that bridges the natural and digital worlds to inspire a sense of empathy that helps people feel closer to nature. In hearing about Apple Entrepreneur Camp, Jhanvi and Ketaki wondered at first if they were were experienced enough to apply. They soon found out that the cohort was geared for developers at several different levels and company leaders at different stages of building their businesses. This was a chance to get support from Apple experts as well as their fellow entrepreneurs.
“It’s about potential versus proof,” says Jhanvi Shriram, CEO of Krikey, Inc. “Often, as women we are asked to constantly prove ourselves and defend our achievements even if we’ve earned a Ph.D. or MBA. The Apple Entrepreneur Camp was really a place where we were truly supported, and seen for our potential.”
During the cohort, Jhanvi and Ketaki were developing “Gorillas!,” a multiplayer, augmented reality game that immerses players in the Rwandan jungle with a family of mountain gorillas. Created in partnership with The Ellen Fund, “Gorillas!” aims not only to entertain, but to build empathy, and inspire conservation. Krikey was developed using the powerful tools and capabilities in ARKit and Metal creating immersive habitats and ecosystems. During the cohort, Jhanvi and Ketaki had the opportunity to demo “Gorillas!” with Apple experts.
“Working directly with the Apple team, we got feedback on design methodology that helped us solve a problem in our app we knew we had, but had no idea how to fix,” said Ketaki Shriram, chief technical officer of Krikey, Inc. “We made some significant improvements based on what we learned, including adding a preview mode so players can try the game before they sign up. That’s been really successful for us.”
So far, Apple Entrepreneur Camp has welcomed 100 participants from 13 different countries. The next cohort is planned for January 28 to February 5, 2020, and applications will be accepted until November 15 at developer.apple.com/entrepreneur-camp.
Here are the companies who have participated in Apple Entrepreneur Camp 2019:
Abylight Studios
BetterMe
Boxies
Create2Thrive, Inc.
CUCO Health
Deepr Dating
D’efekt
Dirty Dog Software
eBibelot, Inc.
Estudio Chispa
expeet
Flame Soft AB
Frogg
Gurbani
Hopscotch Technologies Inc.
Iceclip
imagiLabs AB
Krikey, Inc.
LactApp Women Health
Lake Coloring
Literacy Matters Foundation
Ohhh, Inc.
Peekaboo Studios
Peppy Pals
Quin
SALT for my Squid
Seneca Women
Shine
StoryUP Studios
Struct Club Inc.
The Dots
Train Your Eyes
TRASH INC.
treebetty
Trill Project, Inc.
True Wine
Virtue
warehouse apps LLC
WeParent
WishUpon
Wysa
Zimela