Top Gun, Scratchpad Accelerator cited in Mainebiz article on Bangor startup
Two innovation accelerator programs with University of Maine ties helped Bangor startup L&K Manufacturing get off the ground, Mainebiz reported. L&K Manufacturing, doing business as Cobbler Technologies, is developing multimaterial, 3-D printers for the footwear industry. The company was started by Andrew Katon and Vincent Lewis who met as students at UMaine, according to the article. Tim Abraham, the company’s robotics engineer, also became involved as a UMaine student. Katon and Lewis were among the companies in the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s 2015 Top Gun class, as well as the Scratchpad Accelerator, a UMaine initiative in collaboration with the Maine Technology Institute, according to the article. Top Gun Prep and Top Gun helped the duo learn how to start a business, while Scratchpad Accelerator taught them how to get funding and take the company to a commercial scale. Scratchpad also gave them $25,000, the article states. “The [Scratchpad] program guides entrepreneurs through the early stages of business development to help them improve their chances of success,” Katon said.