Layups and Breakaways: Round 1 of Tech Madness Closes, Round 2 Begins

After tense matchups and buzzer beaters, the first round of NTX Inno’s Tech Madness competition has ended. And now Round 2 begins.

One of the biggest surprises of the round was the established competitive esports platform Geekletes beating out the recently launched, but much talked about Hypergiant spatial AI spinoff Worlds, which is led by serial entrepreneur Dave Copps and raised $10 million last month. Another upset included designer sock startup Deadsoxy, which has appeared on a number of top DFW startup lists, losing out to self-service retail store concept Goodieboxx, which was featured in NTX Inno’s Startups to Watch list.

Another interesting matchup was local coworking spaces WorkSuites and Common Desk going head-to-head. The younger Common Desk ultimately won out. It was also interesting that distributed ledger platform Hedera Hashgraph, which raised more than $100 million in its initial coin offering, lost to car-focused social networking app Park Up Front.

Elsewhere, one of the newest DFW startups, Bed Beacon, beat out first responder VR startup SurviVR. And real estate SaaS startup Dottid, hot off a $3.85 million Seed round, took down the rapidly growing cannabis gig work platform Kanna.

More than 1,300 votes were cast in the first round, showing there’s a lot of excitement around the entire North Texas ecosystem.

Now, it’s time for Round 2.

There’s a few interesting matchups to keep your eyes on. Women’s sexual wellness app Rosy, which recently raised $1 million, goes up against health care platform Bed Beacon. In addition, two of NTX Inno’s Startups to Watch, Kanarys and Goodieboxx.

It will also be interesting to watch who wins between Plano-based OneDine and Dallas-based Blockit. The two companies have both raised more than $3 million in the past six months.

So, check out the bracket and start voting in Round 2. Remember, winners of each match are determined by a simple question: which company would you invest in? It doesn’t matter whether you’re thinking with your wallet or if you’re just really passionate about a certain startup. This is a friendly competition designed to highlight some of the most exciting startups in the region.

Here's the upcoming voting schedule:

And here's a look at the updated bracket.