It seems like a lifetime ago that we introduced Rhode Island Inno's 2020 Tech Madness bracket.
The bracket, which our editorial team assembled based on nominations you sent in over the last several months, encompassed a broad range of the Ocean State’s private, venture capital-backed or bootstrapped companies. In full, 32 fast-moving startups competed for the coveted title of this year's Tech Madness champion. Over the last several weeks, nearly 3,000 votes were cast over five rounds to decide the winner.
Before we announce the winner, let's have a round of applause for this year's contestants. We can all imagine our competitors in a line, high-fiving and saying "good game," right? That's the spirit of Tech Madness—to shine a light on a wide array of startups that are still in the growth stage.
Still, this is a competition. And there is a winner.
SquadLocker is Rhode Island Inno's 2020 Tech Madness champion. The custom athletic apparel startup just barely squeaked past Siren Marine to take the W. Seriously, it was close: 64 votes decided the victory.
Founded in 2015, SquadLocker is an Ocean State powerhouse. Its software has been used to create well over 250,000 sites for youth and collegiate players to order athletic gear and spirit wear, co-founder and CEO Gary Goldberg told Rhode Island Inno earlier this month. With an additional $20 million in Series C funding in its pocket, the startup is set to expand its channel partner relationships and hire about 40 new employees on the sales, marketing and engineering teams.
Congratulations, SquadLocker!
That's a wrap on Tech Madness this year, but we have other competitions going all year long. Next up is Coolest Companies, a competition to identify and highlight the local startups and tech firms with the best, most inspiring company cultures. You can submit nominations for Coolest Companies, along with Inno on Fire, right here.
