Portfolio of Startups
The Calvin StartUp Garage, designed to help students start and scale companies, works to foster the growth of Christ-centered businesses. The Garage has a clear vision to help start 100 companies by 2032. To achieve this, the program offers guest speakers, mentorship, funding opportunities, and a supportive community all aimed at helping the entrepreneurs build impactful companies. Below are a few of the companies that the StartUp Garage has assisted thus far.
The Classic Candle
Carissa Springvloed
Carissa Springvloed is the founder of The Classic Candle, a company specializing in handmade soy wax candles. She started the company with the vision of offering unique personalized candles ideal for gift-giving. You can find a selection of Carissa’s candles right in our very own Calvin Bookstore.
Kickback
Cameron Lockrey
Cam Lockrey, founder of Kickback holds one of the success story’s of The Startup Garage. Through the support of the program Cam has built an app, received funding, obtained clients, and networked. Cam has grown Kickback, a local service marketplace on the app store to 690+ users. The app connects individuals who need help around their home with taskers.
SeekSpace
Keegan Hall
Keegan Hall is the founder of SeekSpace, a moving and storage company that focuses on helping students move their belongings in and out of their dorms. The process is simple, students pack up and leave their belongings in their dorm room. Then, SeekSpace will either move their items to a location of their choice or store them over the summer.
MyLuvs Redeemed Co.
Myla Kar
Myla Kar, who has since partnered with Haley Holm, founded MyLuvs Redeemed Clothing Co., a sustainably sourced women’s clothing brand focused on creating community. Together they buy clothes from students or thrift stores, and then sell to students through pop-up shops held around campus.
Coleman Studios
Madison Coleman
Madison Coleman is the founder of Coleman Studios, a photo and video company focused on equine and lifestyle content. Coleman Studios aims to provide a more accessible option in a very expensive market.
Ingray
Clive Amoh
Ingray is an art based sticker companmy that has now expanded its offerings to include a variety of popular designs inspired by young people.
Eden
Ashlynne Bailey
The mission of Eden is to blend mental and spiritual health, inspire others, build community, and share the good news of Jesus.
Honey & Grace Boutique
Melissa Scholten
Honey & Grace Boutique is an online women's clothing boutique. Honey & Grace offers affordable selections of women's clothing pieces that are on trend. Melissa strives to help women feel confident through their clothing pieces. Honey & Grace is based on the verse Proverbs 16:24, "Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones".
ShopSmart
Ryan Tschirhart
ShopSmart is a price comparison app designed to save people time and money with grocery shopping, ensuring people get the best rate and the most beef for their buck. It allows customers to compare apples to apples not oranges.
Ellie B Photography
Ellie Batts
Ellie Batts is a portrait photographer focused on “capturing the natural light, connections & moments of all the things in between people and life.” Ellie's goal is to photograph clients authentically and share their story.
Dykstra Design & Printing
Ephraim Dykstra
Dykstra Design and Printing is a 3D design and printing company dedicated to creating high-quality products that simplify and enhance everyday life. DDP specializes in product development and small-scale production, turning your ideas into tangible solutions and aiming to make life more convenient through thoughtfully designed 3D-printed products.
Sivic
Haleema Jamil
Sivik is a one stop education, counseling service for students from all around the world. Sivik mainly offers services that help with technical documentation and proven techniques for a successful application for undergraduate and post graduate students.
Roomie
Karen Bekhet
Roomie is an app designed to help college students find roommates. It also connects students to local landlords for off-campus housing opportunities.
Honey to Honey
Katherine Tobin
Honey To Honey seeks to share Christ-centered encouragement and wisdom publicly while offering tangible goods that bring joy and beauty from the hands of one woman to another. These products are meant to be cost-effective thrifted goods and/or high-quality handmade goods.
PitStop
Nick LeClair
Car ownership is a hassle. PitStop provides hassle-free mobile detailing to keep your car in tip-top shape.
BiliRoo
Daniel John
BiliRoo is a patent-pending, non-electric, easy-to-use, and low-cost medical device designed to treat neonatal jaundice in low-resource settings. BiliRoo harnesses filtered sunlight to provide phototherapy to treat the neonate’s jaundice while promoting essential parental skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo care).