About 3,000 people gathered at Shea's Performing Arts Center Thursday night to find out which five startups would make Buffalo their new home.
43North, a nonprofit accelerator and incubator, had been planning the event and recruiting applicants since the start of the year. Ultimately, 951 submissions got whittled down to 15 semifinalists and then eight finalists.
Five grand-prize winners were Guidesly, KAV, Kredit Academy, StepWise and StoreCash.
These five startups, whose current locations range from Massachusetts to California,will receive $1 million each. In return, they must make Buffalo their headquarters for at least a year and give 43North a 5% stake in their respective companies.
Kredit Academy also won the $25,000 People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Learn more about the winning companies:
Guidesly
- CEO: David Lord
- Located in: Topsfield, MA
- Founded in: 2019
- What it does: The startup’s vertical software-as-a-service platform that gives the outdoor recreational guide marketplace a consumer marketplace.
- What’s the problem it’s addressing? “Guides have an offline world,” Lord said. “80% don’t have online booking. 30% don’t even have a website.”
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KAV
- CEO: Whitman Kwok
- Located in: Redwood City, CA
- Founded in: 2016
- What it does: The business creates custom helmets designed to reduce brain injuries and save lives.
- Why KAV? “Our custom helmets are like a tailored suit from Napoli’s" Clothes & Shoes, Kwok said. “It’s slimmer, it's form-fitting and it comes in 8 billion sizes, one for every man, woman and all the kids in the back.”
• • •
Kredit Academy
- CEO: Evan Leaphart
- Located in: Miami, FL
- Founded in: 2023 (The company was founded in 2018 but its app launched in 2023)
- What it does: The comprehensive financial literacy platform gives customers, particularly young adults and teens, white-label, credit-based solutions to provide information and tools to build sound credit, as well as giving financial institutions a way to grow and engage.
- What need is the company serving? "The biggest problem with credit? We don’t discuss it until it’s too late," said Leaphart.
• • •
Stepwise
- CEO: Jane Chen
- Located in: Cambridge, MA
- Founded in: 2022
- What it does: The business aims to make home electrification, specifically for EV charger and heat pump installations, cost effective and to future-proof the electric grid.
- What’s the challenge? “The truth is we’re overspending, overbuilding and instead we should be optimizing what we already have,” Chen said.
• • •
StoreCash
- CEO: Daricus Releford
- Located in: San Jose, CA
- Founded in: 2019
- What it does: The startup created a mobile payment solution for users to pay cheaply and easily through QR codes and earn maximum cash back at stores.
- What's the draw for the customer? "We’re allowing users to save about $900 annually just by paying with QR codes and barcodes at their favorite stores."
