After a pause early this week, March Madness picks up in full force Thursday. Yeah, it’s cool and all that the Sox will be sporting these star-spangled blazers at the White House, but let’s get back to the brackets — of both the basketball and startup varieties.
While Boston may not be the best known for its basketball talent (sorry, Celtics), the Hub is famed for its innovation and tech acumen. So, BostInno asked the question: Who will be the most valuable Boston-based company in five years?
We picked and paired up 64 worthy companies in two separate brackets, and you casted your votes. The sweetest of Sweet Sixteens was announced on Monday, showing upsets galore. Thursday, the Elite 8 makes its big debut, with burgeoning startups leaving a number of top dogs in the dust.
Alcohol delivery service Drizly continues to kill all of its competition. The startup began as the No. 15 seed, but has continued to knock out big companies including the likes of Wayfair, Actifio and, as of this last round, HubSpot. The company, which scored $2.25 million in seed funding in January, beat the famed No. 3 seed inbound marketing leader 511 votes to 489. In the Elite 8, Drizly goes head-to-head against weight loss and fitness tracking app LoseIt!. Let's call it a battle of booze and bulge.
In another twist of fate, No. 14 seed IdeaPaint pushed past Dyn, seeded second, in the last round by barely a 30-point margin. Even with the added force of Wednesday’s acquisition, the Internet performance solutions company wasn’t able to pull through this round. The dry-erase paint company will do its best to take down sales analytics company InsightSquared in the coming round.
In the second bracket, mobile payment company and No.13 seed LevelUp is also making an appearance in the Elite 8 after rocking Kinvey 504 to 367 votes. They’ll go up against mobile app management startup Apperian in the Elite 8. This won’t be pretty, people.
Endpoint and server security company and No. 2 seed Bit9 didn’t stand a chance against Abine. The match ended up 475 to 337, in the “online security for the people” startup’s favor. Abine’s been on quite the tear, crushing marketing tech company Nanigans and digital device reseller Gazelle in the last two rounds. But will they be able to beat down messaging app HeyWire and make it all the way to the finals?
The competition’s heating up, and the final is right around the corner. But which company from the Elite 8 has what it takes to win the whole shebang? Make your selections and take a look at the schedule below so you don’t miss any piece of the action.
Elite 8 Voting Ends: Monday, March 31, at 8 a.m.
Final Four Voting Starts: Monday, March 31, at 9 a.m.
Final Four Voting Ends: Friday, April 4, at 8 a.m.
Championship Voting Starts: Friday, April 4, at 9 a.m.
Championship Voting Ends: Monday, April 7, at 8 a.m.
Winner Announced: Monday, April 7, at 9 a.m.
Image via HoopThoughts
