Wednesday, October 30th, was a big day for Boston: President Obama visited historic Faneuil Hall. The Boston Red Sox entered the battlefield that is Fenway in the sixth game of the World Series, and Boston-based accelerator MassChallenge awarded $1.5 million in grants and more than $10 million in in-kind prizes to ground-breaking, young companies with tremendous potential.
After months of hard work and long nights spent at One Marina Park Drive, MassChallenge's 128 startups celebrated their respective success in style tonight at the accelerator's awards ceremony, hosted by The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi.
Earlier this month, MassChallenge announced its 26 standouts from this summer's recent batch. And, tonight, many of those companies walked away winners of prizes, ranging in size from $10,000 to $100,000. Over 1,300 members of Boston's tech and entrepreneurial community gathered at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to partake in the party and show their support for all of the accelerator's fledgeling startups.
Below are tonight's lucky winners:
$100,000 Diamond Winners
99Degrees Custom – 99Degrees Custom manufactures build-to-order apparel for the me-commerce market and is built to empower the workforce in Lawrence and Lowell.
Hemova Medical – Hemova improves clinical outcomes for ESRD patients with a vascular access solution that is safer, more robust and anatomically neutral.
MoneyThink – Moneythink empowers urban teens to make and manage money.
RailPod – RailPod - Robotics technology for safer and more efficient railroad track inspections.
ViralGains – ViralGains is the Viral Video Marketing Platform for brands, advertising agencies, marketers, and media buyers.
$50,000 Gold Winners
3dim – 3dim brings you freedom to gesture in 3D to your phone, tablet or smart glasses. Without a screen or without occluding, you're in control.
A Little Easier Recovery – Essential post-surgical recovery garment addressing critical unmet needs for breast cancer patients now.
AMS-Qi – AMS-Qi improves electricity generation. We enable more efficient coal & biofuel burn, reduced boiler outage & reduced pollutant emission.
Bio-Adhesive Alliance – Bio-adhesive Alliance: Producer of bio-adhesive and bio-asphalt from animal waste.
Cape Commons Brewing Co. – Good People! We're Cape Commons, a mission driven beer company that brews damn good beer to invest in clean water. #beerforwater
Keraderm – With a 5mm healthy skin sample, we cover skin tissue loss of an area four times the size of a business card.
Silverside Detectors Inc. – Low-cost, highly scalable radiation detectors that keep the world safe from nuclear terrorism.
Sword & Plough – Sword & Plough is a quadruple bottom line bag company that works with veterans to repurpose military surplus fabric into stylish bags.
Thompson SCI – Thompson SCI is commercializing a patented device based therapy to preserve neurologic function in patients who suffer spinal cord injuries.
UPower – The always-on, carbon-free, container-size and recyclable MW size nano-nuclear battery, which lasts for 12 years without refueling.
Silver Winners
Calista Therapeutics – Calista Therapeutics is developing proprietary peptide drugs for Cystic Fibrosis that are 12 months from IND enablement and clinical trials.
DrinkSavvy – DrinkSavvy aims to eradicate drug-aided date rape with a constant self-monitoring cup or straw that change color if one's drink is "roofied".
Elegant Therapeutics – Elegant Therapeutics: We help pharmaceutical companies accelerate drug discovery by automating experimentation on small model organisms.
flatev – flatev is revolutionizing the way people prepare fresh tortillas at home!
MouseHouse – MouseHouse is an iPad+web app that allows scientists to save time and money in managing breeding, genetics and health of lab mice.
Qbaka – Qbaka is frontend problem monitoring and analytics for web services. Google analytics for client-side errors.
Quad Technologies LLC – Quad Technologies' unique dissolvable hydrogel enables cost effective and robust consumables for biologics purification and cell separation.
Rifiniti – Our analytics SaaS helps F500 companies optimize their workspaces and workflow while reducing real estate costs by half.
Spire – Spire: The future of higher education. Available now in Africa.
Tripzon – Tripzon™ is the first travel packaging platform for planning + booking complex trips. Users can finally create great trips all in one place!
Vecoy Nanomedicines – Vecoy Nanomedicines develops patent pending virus-traps for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other viral infections
Sidecar Prize Winners
For the 2013 program, three MassChallenge partners provided additional grants totaling $525,000. These grants were awarded to teams excelling in areas of interest to the partner organizations as outlined below:
CASIS Prize for Technology in Space
$75,000 Winners
Neural Analytics – We offer a noninvasive solution for measuring intracranial pressure that currently requires a neurosurgeon to drill a hole into your skull.
Raja Systems – Raja Systems lowers energy costs in isolated microgrids around the world through the use of real time weather and load data.
Silverside Detectors Inc. – Low-cost, highly scalable radiation detectors that keep the world safe from nuclear terrorism.
$45,000 Winners
Benevolent Technology for Health – Benevolent Technology for Health develops high impact low cost healthcare solutions
EnerLeap – EnerLeap is a patented new nano technology that significantly improves the performance of lithium ion batteries.
Quad Technologies LLC – Quad Technologies' unique dissolvable hydrogel enables cost effective and robust consumables for biologics purification and cell separation.
Ras Labs, LLC – Ras Labs produces synthetic muscles: electroactive polymer materials/actuators that contract & expand at low V with low heat/noise signature.
Vecoy Nanomedicines – Vecoy Nanomedicines develops patent pending virus-traps for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other viral infections.
The John W. Henry Family Foundation Prize for Social Impact
$30,000 Winner
Little Sparrows Technologies – Little Sparrows Technologies makes low-cost, power-adaptable phototherapy devices to cure babies with jaundice in low resource areas.
$10,000 Winners
A Little Easier Recovery – Essential post-surgical recovery garment addressing critical unmet needs for breast cancer patients now.
Green City Growers – We transform unused space into thriving urban farms, providing our clients with access to quality food, while revitalizing city landscapes.
Perkins School for the Blind Assistive Technology Prize
$15,000 Winner
A Little Easier Recovery – Essential post-surgical recovery garment addressing critical unmet needs for breast cancer patients now.
$10,000 Winner
INRFOOD – You don't need a PhD to understand what's in your food @INRFOOD is a food GPS that personalizes and simplifies diet and nutrition.
Congratulations to all the MassChallenge startups!
