(Inside the new MassChallenge. Image via Gillis Bernard)
MassChallenge announced Tuesday the 26 startups from its 2014 class within reach of more than $1.75 million in cash grants.
The Seaport startup accelerator received roughly 1,600 applications, making this year's class MassChallenge's most competitive yet. The pool was whittled down to 128 finalists, who spent the last few months months working out of the program's new space in the Boston Innovation and Design Building.
The top 26 will now face a final judging panel, who will be tasked with determining which startups will receive equity-free funding. The winners will be announced at the MassChallenge Awards Ceremony, taking place on October 29 at 5 p.m. at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will be in attendance, speaking alongside Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Innovation Hub Host Kara Miller.
"These top 26 startups are poised to make a tremendous impact across a variety of industries — from healthcare to education to clean technology," said MassChallenge Founder and President Akhil Nigam in a statement. "While the final judges will have a difficult task ahead of them, we can all agree that each of these startups has great potential."
Roughly 10 to 20 startups will win grants of either $50,000 or $100,000. An additional $775,000 in "sidecar prizes" will also be awarded this year, courtesy of CASIS and Boeing, the John W. Henry Family Foundation, Microsoft, MassIT and the Perkins School for the Blind.
Among the top 26 is AutoAgronom, a smart irrigation startup that was acquired by a Chinese firm for $20 million in September — not your typical early-stage startup accepted into MassChallenge. More expected is Harvard-born Artlifting, an organization providing homeless and disabled artists with a place to sell their work. The startup recently launched a crowdfunding campaign, surpassing their $20,000 goal on Kickstarter.
Here's a full look at the top 26 moving on to the final round of the competition, with descriptions courtesy of MassChallenge:
In Energy/Clean Tech
Anfiro — From Massachusetts — Anfiro is helping create clean and affordable water for a better tomorrow.
AutoAgronom — From Israel — AutoAgronom increases agriculture yields while providing savings of up to 50 percent water and 70 percent fertilizers by "listening" to growth roots.
DropWise — From Massachusetts — DropWise is on a mission to avert metagons of CO2 with a nanoengineered coating for power plants.
In General
KnipBio — From Massachusetts — KnipBio's proprietary biotechnology makes animal feed more nutritious and sustainable.
ZOOS Greek Iced Teas — From Massachusetts — ZOOS is a first-to-market, all natural, real brewed, caffeine free, ready-to-drink Greek Iced Tea that is Yia-Yia approved.
In Healthcare/Life Sciences
3Derm — From Connecticut — 3Derm takes 3D pictures of skin with an inexpensive handheld imager to help detect skin cancer at the earlier, more treatable stages.
Cam Med LLC — From Massachusetts — Cam Med LLC has created Evopump, the first soft, flexible, bandage-like patch pump for active and simultaneous subcutaneous delivery of one or more medications.
Disease Diagnostic Group — From Ohio — Disease Diagnostic Group’s reusable, mechanical device offers a handheld, quantitative malaria diagnosis.
Fluid-Screen — From Connecticut — Fluid-Screen makes the world a safer place by enabling faster, more sensitive microbial detection from fluid samples.
Gecko Health Innovations — From Massachusetts — GeckoCap is a connected mobile device that improves the management of chronic respiratory diseases for better outcomes and costs.
Oncolinx — From New Jersey — Oncolinx is developing next-generation cancer therapeutics that safely and effectively treat the most aggressive types of cancer.
Sano LLC — From Massachusetts — Sano offers a disposable, low-cost, Point-of-Care diagnostic platform, with a first focus on chronic wounds.
SQZ Biotech — From Massachusetts — SQZ Biotech's CellSqueeze, invented at MIT, enables the delivery of molecules into cells by a gentle squeezing.
Unima — From Mexico — Today, diagnosing diseases is a long and expensive process. Unima developed a low-cost and five-minute process usable by anyone, anywhere.
In High Tech
Ashton Instruments — From Massachusetts — Ashton Instruments is making the first affordable cycling power meter. Think of it as a super Fitbit for cyclists.
Dimples, Inc. — From Pennsylvania — With Dimples, it's like printing money. Dimples reduces ink costs when printing documents.
Grapevine — From Massachusetts — Grapevine's advocate marketing platform helps consumer facing brands generate sales by working with relevant YouTubers.
Jisto Inc. — From Massachusetts — Transforming idle computation cycles in organizations into a powerful cloud computing platform capable of taking on massive computations.
Ustraap — From Mexico — Ustraap provides the smart and simple way to sense your surroundings with style.
VOXEL8 — From Massachusetts — Voxel8 is a startup focused on multimaterial 3D printing of electronics that has recently spun out of Jennifer Lewis's lab at Harvard University.
In Social Impact
ArtLifting — From Massachusetts — ArtLifting empowers homeless and disabled individuals through the celebration and sale of their artwork. ArtLifting is uplifting art.
CareerVillage.org — From Massachusetts — CareerVillage crowdsources career advice for students in low-income communities. Now every student can get the personal advice they need.
Catie's Closet — From Massachusetts — Catie's Closet improves school attendance and removes social stigmas by providing clothing and necessities to students living in poverty.
Drinkwell — From Massachusetts — Drinkwell transforms the global arsenic and fluoride water crisis into economic opportunity.
EdTrips — From Massachusetts — EdTrips helps field trip venues manage their visitors and reach more teachers.
ReFleece — From Massachusetts — ReFleece is a scalable model for upcycling: we make beautiful, modern accessories from clothes that would otherwise go to waste.
