The Sacramento Kings have picked the 16 companies competing for $10,000 in cash in the ninth annual Kings Capitalize Technology competition.
Applications closed Thursday for the contest, styled as a March Madness tournament for local technology companies.
The 16 will be pared down to eight, to be announced Feb. 22.
The Rocklin-based Growth Factory, a startup accelerator program with an associated venture fund, will produce an in-person pitch day March 27 where selected startups will pitch to a live audience of investors and executives.
The final winner will be announced during Tech Night on April 11 at the Sacramento Kings' home game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Capitalize launched in 2016, and it has drawn hundreds of applicants from the Sacramento region.
The 16 companies selected include:
- 811Spotter, a tool for contractors to find underground wires and utilities.
- AskGeri Inc., an artificial intelligence app to provide companionship to the elderly.
- Birth By Us Inc., a personalized pregnancy and post-partum app for Black women.
- CareAsOne, a collaborative sharing community for health care professionals.
- ClapSelf Inc., an AI-powered technology worker placement firm.
- CounselHero Inc., an AI-powered digital career and academic student counseling service.
- EnlitenAI Inc., a seizure management and monitoring tool for caregivers.
- MaxGene Bioscience LLC, a company using Crisper to make biotech advances in bioscience and agriculture.
- Plum Identity, a company marketing identity validation using massive data.
- Red Line Safety Inc., a developer of safety technology to track first responder in real time in the field.
- Soar Optics, a developer of sensor technology to find and track microplastics in water.
- Social Club of Tomorrow Inc., a localized private network of local professionals and creatives.
- StrivedIO, which is developing AI and strategic partnerships to aggregate data for education assessments.
- Tenvos AI, which provides impairment detection technology to prevent workplace accidents.
- Unstructured, which provides the ability for large language models and AI to access multiple types of files, and to sequester specific information.
- WashTeams Inc., offers laundry services by delivery.
