Alumnus credits Top Gun, Scratchpad Accelerator for success, Press Herald reports
The Portland Press Herald published an article on Cobbler Technologies, a Bangor startup that aims to revolutionize the footwear industry using 3-D printer technology. “Lots of shoe manufacturers use 3-D printers, but only to make prototypes,” said President and CEO Andrew Katon, a 2014 mechanical engineering graduate of the University of Maine. “Ours is designed to be integrated into the manufacturing process. We have 25 different layers of materials that we can change on the fly without interrupting the manufacturing process.” Katon said his training in the Top Gun entrepreneurship accelerator program offered by the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development and UMaine, as well as his internships at UMaine, gave him the direction and basic business knowledge needed to balance his interest in mechanical engineering. According to the article, Cobbler Technologies won seed financing from the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) and $25,000 from its Scratchpad Accelerator pitch contest, an event that attracted Boston investors. Scratchpad Accelerator is a pilot program of UMaine in collaboration with MTI.