It’s down to the “final four” in the Sacramento Kings Capitalize contest, a startup company tournament styled after March Madness where companies vie for a $10,000 top cash prize.
In the pitch competition's seventh year, the Kings invited startups based within 75 miles of Sacramento to apply for Capitalize, which culminates in the announcement of a winner at Golden 1 Center during a home basketball game April 3.
The Kings got 140 applicants in the contest this year. Following pitches by eight companies Monday at Golden 1 Center, the four left in competition include:
- EyeRate, an Elk Grove developer of a customer communication platform.
- Matrubials, a Davis-based company developing antibacterial therapeutics.
- Neural Lab Inc., an El Dorado Hills-based developer of a touchless touchscreen.
- RevShopp Inc., a Sacramento developer of body shape intelligence software for the apparel industry.
The Final Four make videos, which will be posted on the Kings Capitalize website and on Twitter for voting. On the website, people can only vote once for one company. People can vote on Twitter once a day.
The winner will be decided by the judges, by online votes, Twitter votes and by fans on Twitter at the Kings home game against the Golden State Warriors.
The Capitalize contest this year is being presented by Kings partners Dialpad, a communications technology company based in San Francisco; 3STEPS4Ward, a marketing company based in San Ramon; and the city's Sacramento Urban Technology Lab.
In addition to the cash prize, the winning company in Capitalize gets three years of access to Dialpad communication services and six months of free marketing services from 3STEPS4Ward. The Kings are also awarding $3,000 to second place and $1,500 to third place this year.
Two of the companies, EyeRate and Matrubials, going into the final four of Capitalize are also still in the running in Pitch Elk Grove, a similar tournament sponsored by the city of Elk Grove.
