Championship update – we have a winner
Check out our recap of the 2021 Tech Madness bracket and see who won the championship.
Semifinals update — a championship match is born
With more than 13,000 ballots cast in Austin Inno's Tech Madness, we've finally come down to one final matchup.
After a strong contest with Yonder, Disco emerged victorious by a margin of less than 40 votes. MeBeBot, meanwhile, continued its march toward the championship by topping Blended Sense by a little over 100 votes.
So, our friendly competition continues for one more big matchup. It's e-discovery legal tech company Disco versus AI-powered digital assistant startup MeBeBot.
Inno readers will vote for the company they'd most want to invest in over the next couple days, and we'll announce a champion at the end of the week. So, scroll down to the VOTE HERE heading below and make your selection...
Round 4 update — heading into the semifinals
There weren't any nail-bitters this time.
In round four of Tech Madness, four local startups emerged with decisive victories. None were blowouts, but Disco, Yonder, Blended Sense and MeBeBot all landed at least 55% of the votes in their matchups.
All of the companies received more than a hundred votes from Inno readers, who have now cast more than 12,000 votes during this year's friendly Tech Madness bracket competition.
Now, we're down to four Austin companies that have all had strong support throughout the month.
In the semifinals, legal tech startup Disco is matched up with Yonder, a significantly smaller company that has a social intelligence platform that helps other organizations identify online trends and narratives.
On the other side, we have digital content platform Blended Sense squaring off with MeBeBot, which has an AI chatbot that answers employee questions about HR, IT and other operations. MeBeBot was runner-up in last year's Tech Madness competition.
So, it's a big showdown.
Voting has already begun in this final round and will close at 11 p.m. on Monday, April 19, before we head into the championship matchup. So scroll down and cast a vote for the startups that you'd most want to invest in.
Round 3 update — only eight remain
Austin insurtech startup The Zebra raised a huge new round of funding this week and saw its valuation exceed $1B. But another fast moving company in Austin, legal tech startup Disco, was able to emerge from their big matchup in round three of Tech Madness.
Meanwhile, in the closest match of the round, Tankee, which provides a safe platform for kids to play and stream video game content, just barely edged edtech startup Upswing with an 11-vote margin.
And, it looks like there won't be a repeat championship for Rocket Dollar. The fintech startup and last year's Tech Madness champion was toppled by Tech Madness newcomer Blended Sense, a platform for digital content.
Now, with only eight startups left out of the 64 we entered with, we're anticipating more close contests.
Last year's runner-up, and the startup with the most overall votes so far, MeBeBot, is matched up with LitLingo, an AI-powered digital communications analytics company. Meanwhile, Yonder, which tracks online narratives using machine learning, is facing Yourself Online, which provides tools to manage social media accounts.
So far, more than 11,000 votes have been cast. Keep your votes coming. Round three ends on April 15.
Round 2 update
Now it's really starting to get interesting. After starting with 64 local startups in the Tech Madness bracket, we're down to 16.
Let's check out a few of the close matches over the past few days. And it doesn't get any tighter than the matchup between home services startup Spruce and news app Gawq. They literally tied, and we had to do a digital coin flip, which gave the win to Spruce. Sorry, no overtimes in Tech Madness.
Meanwhile, zero-waste grocery delivery startup Trashless edged out real-time data analysis startup Molecula by just 10 votes.
So far, nearly 10,000 votes have been cast, and we're expecting a few nail bitters in round three, which starts today, April 9, and closes on Monday.
Here are a couple of matchups to scope. Heavily funded legal tech startup Disco is headed up against The Zebra, a well-established insurtech startup. Meanwhile, 2020's Tech Madness champion, personal investing startup Rocket Dollar, is up against newcomer Blended Sense, in what is likely to be a barn burner. And, last year's runner-up, MeBeBot, has more votes than any startup so far in this year's bracket, but it's headed into a tough matchup with Place Technology, which has been blazing through the bracket.
Which startups will emerge from the 16 remaining? We'll find out early next week. Now, scroll down to the bracket and select the startups you'd most like to invest in.
Round 1 update
The first round of Tech Madness almost always includes some huge upsets with up-and-coming startups receiving more votes than companies that may have already raised a series B round or beyond.
This year fit the mold, with several underdogs advancing and a few matchups with razor thin margins, which underscores how each vote can make the difference.
Take, for example, LitterHero's upset of Jungle Scout. With each company landing more than 100 votes, LitterHero emerged victorious by a margin of 13. Meanwhile, Armbrust American topped Rialtes Technologies by only eight votes. And Gawq advanced past SchooLinks with only a three vote margin.
The startup with the most votes in the first round, which closed on Sunday evening, was MeBeBot. The company, which created an AI-powered employee experience assistant, was the runner-up in last year's Tech Madness. Meanwhile, last year's champion, Rocket Dollar, also advanced in the first round.
So what's to know about round two? Voting runs through April 8, and there are several interesting matchups in the mix, including LitterHero competing with one of the best-funded startups in this year's bracket: legal tech company Disco. In what also might be a tight matchup, relatively new startups EarBuds and Supply Drop will see who can land the most votes.
Scroll down to the bracket below to cast your votes today.
Game on, y'all!
Austin Inno's Tech Madness competition is back with a bracket packed with 64 local startups vying to become the 2021 champion.
This is a friendly, community-driven contest in which readers vote in each round for the companies they'd most want to invest in. For some readers, that might be picking the companies they think will bring the most positive change, for others it might be all about the potential ROI. It's up to each reader to back their favorite startups with their votes.
The Tech Madness bracket was created using reader nominations, with additional input from Inno's editorial staff. The bracket includes private, venture-backed or bootstrapped companies based in Austin. It is seeded generally based on total funding raised, and, as in other bracket competitions, those with the most funding face off against primarily bootstrapped and un-funded startups in the first round.
And, if history is a guide, there will be a lot of upsets, with early-stage startups hustling to advance past companies with tens of millions raised. Last year, with more than 30,000 votes cast during the contest, No. 11 seeded Rocket Dollar emerged as the champion, edging out No. 16 seeded MeBeBot in the final round. In 2019, which also saw more than 30,000 votes, ClaraPrice topped OJO Labs in the championship match.
First round voting in the 2021 competition begins now and continues through April 4. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning a Tech Madness winner on April 23. Bookmark this page and sign up for our Beat newsletter to stay on top of the competition as it unfolds.
Click and scroll down below to vote and view the full bracket.
VOTE HERE
This year's voting schedule
Round one: March 30-April 4
Round two: April 5-8
Round three: April 9-12
Round 4: April 13-15
Semifinals: April 16-19
Championship: April 20-22
One vote per person, per day. See all voting rules here.
See our quick descriptions and click the links to see each company's homepage below.
Deep Eddy bracket
DISCO: an AI-powered legal tech and e-discovery company
Jungle Scout: an all-in-one platform for selling products on Amazon
The Zebra: an auto and home insurance comparison platform
Shipwell: a shipping platform with real-time visibility
Bloomfire: a customer insights and engagement platform
TrustRadius: a software reviews and insights network
Molecula: a cloud-based real-time data analysis platform
Decent: a health insurance platform
Invoiced: automated accounts receivable software
LitterHero: an app to report litter, civic and infrastructure issues
FileCloud: a file-sharing and backup platform
Point Health: a health care tool for comparisons and personalization
Gardenio: a home gardening kit with app assistance
Vinder: a marketplace for locally sourced foods
HealthTrust Software: a pediatric health care platform
Trashless: a zero-waste grocery delivery service
Krause Springs bracket
Place Technology: a financial forecasting and business planning platform
Strangeworks: a platform for learning about quantum computing and collaborating with quantum developers
ReturnSafe: a Covid-tracking and screening platform
Stylust: a shopping assistant app
EarBuds: a real-time shared listening app
Your Fare: an online restaurant ordering platform
Sustainment: a manufacturing and supplier network
Newchip Accelerator: a startup bootcamp and accelerator
Radical Girl Gang: a platform for buying women-made products
Swoovy: a volunteering and dating app
MeBeBot: an AI-powered HR virtual assistant
Laundris Corp: a commercial laundry service platform
Ceresa: a leadership development accelerator
Supply Drop: a personalized home product subscription service
Virtual Arts (DanceFight app): a dancing competition app
LitLingo: a digital communications analytics platform
Hamilton Pool bracket
The Helper Bees: a platform to find at-home assistance
Living Security: a risk-management platform
Rocket Dollar: an alternative investments platform
First Dollar: a health savings account platform
Upswing: a student-engagement platform
Volcon: maker of electric off-road vehicles
Siera.AI: a warehouse and manufacturing safety platform
Kronologic: a virtual meetings and analytics platform
Lift Aircraft: a personal aircraft company
Blended Sense: a platform for connecting with creative services
CheckApp: an app to connect police with those they pull over
Fundr: an AI-driven venture capital investment platform
Varuna: software to monitor water distribution systems
Shipshape: a home automation and maintenance platform
OpenTeams: a platform for open source networking and knowledge
Tankee: a safe gaming platform for kids
Barton Springs bracket
Yonder: a social discovery platform to identify the source on online narratives
Armbrust American: a certified surgical mask-making company
Spruce: a home cleaning and services platform
SchooLinks: a college and career readiness platform
Yotta Energy: a solar energy storage company
Terradepth: an underwater mapping and analytics startup
Unaliwear: a fall detection and voice-controlled monitoring watch
Televet: an appointment and workflow platform for veterinarians
Pushnami: a business messaging and advertising platform
Rialtes Technologies: a business consulting and tech migration company
Boxt: a curated boxed wine subscription service
Gawq: a news analysis and comparison app
Talk Howdy: a platform to find and create small groups
The Mentor Method: software to help companies match diverse talent to mentors within their organization
Yourself Online: a social media and online account management platform
Knit: a Gen Z survey and insights platform
