Fifteen businesses are one step closer to securing a $1 million prize in 43North’s annual pitch competition.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and 43North announced today the 15 semifinalists that will come to Buffalo next month to pitch their businesses. Five $1 million awards are up for grabs, as well as a $25,000 People’s Choice award, which is funded by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and will be picked by the audience’s live votes the night of finals.
Finals will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 12 at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Winning companies, which must then move their headquarters to Buffalo for a year, get prize money in exchange for 43North getting a 5% stake in the company.
Why it matters: Since it was founded in 2014, 43North has committed to pumping $40 million into 64 startups. The largely state-funded accelerator and incubator has brought hundreds of jobs to the region through its portfolio and has broadcasted on a national stage about Buffalo’s growing startup ecosystem.
The recruitment process starts at the beginning of each year, as the previous year’s cohort is moving to Buffalo. The team begins planning the annual competition itself, as well as planning how it's going to find startups to apply.
The 2023 43North semifinalists
- 4T2 Sensors, based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, specializes in advanced sensor technology for industrial applications. The business’ technology provides control, monitoring and optimization of clean-in-place processes.
- Blip Energy, based in Chicago, builds smart, affordable energy storage to add homes to the smart grid network. The business has created a hybrid software-hardware solution for energy management that works in homes without permitting and installation barriers.
- EarlyBird, based in New York, allows friends, family and parents to invest in a child from the earliest age possible.
- Encounter AI, based in Menlo Park, California, has a voice AI system that handles orders at kiosks, drive-thrus and over the phone.
- Guidesly, based in Topsfield, Massachusetts, is a vertical software-as-a-service platform that gives the outdoor recreational guide marketplace a consumer marketplace.
- KAV, based in Redwood City, California, creates custom helmets designed to reduce brain injuries and save lives.
- Kredit Academy, based in Miami, Florida, is a comprehensive financial literacy platform that provides white-label, credit-based solutions that aim to empower customers – particularly young adults and teens – with information and tools to build sound credit. The platform also gives financial institutions a way to engage and grow.
- Moxie Scrubs, based in Somerville, Massachusetts, is a lifestyle brand for nurses.
- Peat, based in Brooklyn, New York, is creating a network of circular mushroom farms that decarbonize the planet by growing fungi to decompose food waste and transforming the by-product into value-added products.
- Preemadonna, based in Carlsbad, California, offers instant, affordable and personalized nail and body art through at-home connected devices.
- REES (Respect, Educate, Empower Survivors), based in Winnipeg, Canada, is an online platform for reporting discrimination and harassment that can be adapted for an individual industry or sector.
- Stepwise, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, aims to make home electrification, specifically for EV charger and heat pump installations, cost effective and to future-proof the electric grid.
- StoreCash, based in San Jose, California, created a mobile payment solution for users to pay easily and cheaply through QR codes and earn maximum cashback at stores.
- Transship, based in Chicago, is an automated freight forwarding platform for international shipments of full container loads of non-perishable and perishable goods.
- Zette, based in San Francisco, California, created a software to unlock paywalled articles across the internet, increasing access to journalism with one account.
