After a tight championship contest, one of New Mexico Inno's two final startups pulled away right at the end to secure its spot as this year's Inno Madness champion.
The friendly, bracket-style contest kicked off in early March, with 16 New Mexico startups facing off after being selected based on reader nominations and our own input. As part of the competition, readers voted to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in?
The championship continued the trend of close contests throughout this year's competition. At times, our two finalists — Terra Vera and WaveOn Health — were split by less than five votes.
But in the end, Terra Vera, the Albuquerque ag-tech startup, pulled away, securing its spot as champion by exactly 50 votes.
Terra Vera's championship win capped off an impressive run through the bracket. The No. 3 seed notched a pair of upsets in the second and third rounds — first over No. 1 seed and last year's champion, Solstar Space Co., and then over No. 2 seeded Circular Genomics in the final four — after taking down No. 6 seeded Rerouted in the first round.
WaveOn Health, a five seed, had its own impressive trip to the final. A first-round upset over No.4 seeded Goodman Technologies lead to a defeat of No. 7 seeded Mindset Integrated, before WaveOn landed the competition's biggest upset over No. 1 seed and last year's runner-up, Build with Robots, in the final four.
Seeding in this year's bracket was determined by age, funding and previous coverage of each startup, with last year's finalists holding each of the No. 1 spots.
The vote count fell in the championship as compared to the final four, with around 650 people voting to decide who would be this year's champion. If you're curious about the full results from the championship, you can find those here.
Look out for an in-depth feature on Terra Vera, this year's champion, in the coming week. And, check out the completed 2023 Inno Madness bracket below.
The annual startup competition aims to give a snapshot of some of the most promising companies in New Mexico. It is by no means a complete list of New Mexico's best startups, which is a testament to the size of the startup scene in the Land of Enchantment. It's also not just a list of the 16 most-funded startups in the region.
Instead, the bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, consider our bracket a fun look into local companies you need to know — including some of our Startups to Watch.
Now that it's come to a close, New Mexico Inno hopes that you've enjoyed following along through all the close contests and shocking upsets of this year's competition. You can read the rules from the contest here.
