Alex and Jonathan de la Fuente of Bentonville startup Hightag will join 15 other outdoor recreation startups graduating this week from Embark, a national accelerator program hosted by Founded Outdoors and REI Path Ahead Ventures that provides entrepreneurs of color the resources to launch their businesses.
Hightag gives mountain bikers, skiers and other athletes the power to automatically capture photos and videos of themselves in action. The company, along with all the founders from this year’s Embark program, will be hosted by REI for a graduation ceremony on April 19 in Beaverton, Oregon.
The Hightag founders were first introduced to the Embark program at Plug and Play’s Innovation in Outdoor Recreation Showcase, hosted in Bentonville in 2022. The event included a panel discussion that featured entrepreneurs and investors in the outdoor recreation industry. Among them were Alex de la Fuente, chief executive officer of Hightag, and Dan Kihanya, director of REI Path Ahead Ventures, who said Hightag represents “the amazing quality” of entrepreneurs emerging with the PAV founder community
“In this third season of Embark, the cohort of founding entrepreneurs has brought a new level of energy, excitement and ideas to the program,” said Enhao Li of Founded Outdoors, which operates the Embark program, in a statement. “They’ve moved at a rapid pace to build out important operational capabilities and growth strategies and gain early traction with key partners and early customers,”
Founded in 2020, Founded Outdoors and REI Path Ahead Ventures’ Embark program connects Black, indigenous, Hispanic, Asian American and Pacific Islander founders to industry and startup experts as they learn best practices and gather valuable feedback on their businesses.
Each participating company receives a $10,000 equity-free grant to kickstart their business. In addition to capital, founders are also connected to a community of peers and mentors to support their continued growth in the industry.
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