The AZ Inno Madness bracket competition started out competitive during first-round voting, with a few upsets along the way.
Top seeds came out ahead in most of the matchups that pitted 16 Arizona startups against each other in the first round that got underway last week after being selected based on reader nominations. Only three of the matchups were won with more than 60% of the votes, and a couple of them neck-and-neck.
In Region A, top-seeded Qwick took the round by the largest margin in the contest, getting 71% of the votes over Vinylly. It will now face YellowBird, which knocked out Plannly with 57% of the votes. Rivia Health took 62% of the votes to win over SaiOx and get matched up with Promineo Tech, which had 64% of the votes to upset higher-seeded Reglagene.
In Region B, dotScribe also got an upset win, edging out Cereset with 51% of the votes. It will now face another upset winner, PeerLogic, which beat Prizm Tx by getting 60% of the votes. One more upset came from qBotica, which rode 54% of the votes to a win over AlgoFace and will now go up against Revolution Parts Inc., which got 54% of the votes to beat out Promineo Tech.
Voting for the second round is now under way and will continue until 11:50 p.m. on March 20. The matchups for the third round will be announced the following morning. Read the contest rules here.
Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in? Whether you believe in one mission or product slightly over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup, how you answer that question is entirely up to you. The bracket, which is assembled based on reader nominations along with editorial input from the AZ Inno team, is designed to shine a spotlight on 16 innovative, fast-growing local businesses.
Seeding was determined using the funding level of each company. Meet the participants below.
Still in the hunt
dotScribe - Scottsdale company dotScribe develops a solution for medical writing and decision-making for all providers.
Peerlogic - Scottsdale startup building a conversational intelligence platform for the dental industry.
Promineo Tech - A Peoria-based company that partners with community colleges and universities to help them launch and run tech bootcamps.
qBotica - An automated document processing company based in Phoenix.
Qwick - Based in Phoenix, Qwick is an on-demand food and beverage staffing platform.
Revolution Parts Inc. - An online seller of automotive parts based in Phoenix.
Rivia Health - A Phoenix based startup that uses automated digital technology to help streamline health care patient payments.
YellowBird - YellowBird, based in Phoenix, is a health and safety skilled labor and consulting app, matching subject-matter experts with construction, manufacturing and insurance companies.
The rest of the field
AlgoFace - A computer vision and AI face detection startup based in Carefree.
Cereset - Based in Scottsdale, Cereset develops therapies to help the brain recover its balance from trauma, stress and post-Covid issues.
North Commerce - Helps e-commerce businesses build their online stores using the WordPress ecosystem.
Plannly - Based in Phoenix, Plannly developed a workplace well-being platform powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to help employees choose personalized wellness options.
Prizm Tx - A clinical-stage biotech that is currently developing drugs to cure orphan and rare genetic diseases.
Reglagene - Tucson-based startup developing novel therapies to treat brain cancers, including an orally administered option that is nearing human clinical trials.
SaiOx - Tucson-based medical device startup building a respiratory assist device.
Vinylly - Phoenix-based Vinylly is a dating app that matches people based on music compatibility
