The Startup Factory is adding four emerging companies to a growing stable of investments.

Each of the four ventures receives seed funding from The Startup Factory and will participate in a three-month accelerator program.

Through five founds of selections, TSF has invested in 26 companies.

(WRALTechWire exclusive: How these startups meet TSF’s “bad-a**” entrepreneur criteria – Insiders can access online.)

“Every application drive and selection process has yielded better and better investments. Dave and I continue to be enthusiastic about the state of startups both here in RTP, the region and of course the 4 companies that make up this class,” said co-founder Chris Heivly. Dave Neal is his partner.

 “These four companies add to a healthy stable of our previous 22 companies and we are very excited to work with them over the next three onths” said Neal in the announcement. “Each of these companies involves great entrepreneurial teams combined with very niche but meaningful product vision. It is clear that TSF continues to build a brand outside of RTP with 4 of the last 10 companies moving to Durham.”

The four firms, with summaries provided by TSF:

  • CROWDFUNDE curates and filters crowdfunding content from around the web. Our proprietary algorithms help shoppers, investors, donors, companies and brands find, create and share wisdom of crowds. The web is becoming linked conversations. Own the conversation to own the traffic. CrowdFunde helps find, fund and figure out what conversations will or should change your business model, brand strategy, content curation and social marketing. Yes is how we answer the, “Is CrowdFunde a crowdfunding, content marketing , social media or web analytics tool?”. CrowdFunde helps you become us and them become tribe.
  • KNOMAD provides easy access to “knowledge on the go,” harnessing “ears-free” downtime in our daily lives to help us stay informed and entertained. Knomad aims to become the first major social radio app, making it easier for users to discover, listen to, and share spoken content (radio shows, podcasts, TED talks, news updates, interviews, lectures, etc.). Think Twitter meets Spotify for non-music audio: a social platform complete with easily shared cloud playlists, a social feed, the option to follow people and organizations, and smart topical searching.
  • HOSTEL ROCKET is a hostel travel search and booking engine. We work with over 60,000 hostel operators and OTA’s worldwide to help you find the right hostels, tours, flights, car rentals, and rail passes. Once you’ve found all of your travel needs you can build an itinerary and book everything directly at the Hostel Rocket site saving you time + money. In addition, we solve revenue management issues for hostel operators so they can book more ways, more often and eliminate over-bookings.
  • CARELULU is a curated marketplace that makes it easy for parents to find great child care or preschool. Instead of spending hours on the phone or searching the web, parents can now do a personalized search and quickly find a child care provider that fits their needs: budget, hours, or even specific requirements like a peanut-free environment, a foreign-language program, or part-time availability. We also make it easy for parents to find all the information in one place, including photos, cost, and verified parent reviews. In short, CareLuLu is the easiest way for parents to safe, affordable, and high-quality child care!