The first round of Charlotte's Inno Madness bracket challenge had some close calls, with one startup edging out its opponent by less than 10 votes.
Charlotte Inno launched its annual bracket challenge last week, with 16 companies facing off in round 1. Readers submitted more than 1,500 responses in this round.
There is no doubt that each vote counted. No. 1 Opkalla, for example, just slipped past No. 16 Real Response with 50.4% of the vote. No. 14 MyWorkChoice made a similar play against No. 3 Ekos, clutching victory by a mere nine votes or 50.3%. And No. 4 seed Ethix360 narrowly edged out No. 13 Bundle with 50.6%.
No. 15 Emporos prevailed over No. 2 Open Broadband with 51.7% of votes. Newcomer Dovey (No. 7) had a strong showing against the more established Atom Power (No. 10), but fell behind by less than 70 votes, with the latter ending the round at 52.3%.
No. 12 seed Amicus.io, now Louise by TIFIN, won by the widest margin — 53.7% to its opponent's 46.3%. Oxit, a No. 6 seed, won by a similar margin with 53.5%.
This bracket challenge is designed to shine a spotlight on fast-growing local businesses. It is by no means a complete list of Charlotte's best startups, but rather a way to show the breadth and diversity of our ecosystem. Think of it as a fun look into companies you need to know in 2022. We will update the bracket each week based on readers' votes. Seeding is random and does not reflect a ranking.
View complete round 1 results here. Note: Percentages are rounded to the closest whole number.
Voting for round 2 starts at noon today. Readers may cast one vote per round. Read contest rules here. Each week, voting will run from Wednesdays at noon through the following Tuesday. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning this year's champion at the end of the month.
Here's a look at the round 2 competitors:
- Opkalla — A technology-agnostic IT consulting firm
- Emporos — A point-of-sale system provider for the pharmacy industry
- Huck Cycles — An electric moped manufacturer
- Atom Power — An energy-tech company revolutionizing EV charging and energy management
- Amicus.io (now Louise by TIFIN) — A fintech company promoting charitable giving by modernizing donor-advised funds
- Oxit — An Internet of Things consulting service
- Ethix360 — A software provider for employee ethics communication, case management and compliance training
- MyWorkChoice — A mobile scheduling platform for work shifts
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