Game on, Tampa Bay. To drive awareness and excitement for the region's startup ecosystem, Tampa Bay Inno is introducing Tech Madness, a reader-driven bracket competition in the spirit of March Madness highlighting some of the local startup scene’s biggest, brightest and most exciting technology companies.
Over the next few weeks, 32 Tampa Bay tech companies will go head-to-head with readers voting to determine who will move on to the next round.
The matchups are (for the most part) random. All startups on the list are private, venture-backed and tech-enabled. We seeded the companies based on venture capital funding and other growth metrics. (Important note: Seeding isn’t an editorial judgment. We rely on venture funding because, well, that’s the most accessible and universal metric available).
To determine the outcome of each matchup, ask yourselves this question: Who would you invest in?
This can be interpreted a number of different ways. Is this about which startup could deliver the highest return? Who you think is the safest bet? Or is it about supporting a project or mission you’re passionate about? How ever you want to interpret that question is up to you. That's Tech Madness! (And keep in mind that this isn’t a ‘versus’ thing. Just identify who you’re bullish on and pick away. A vote for one company is not a vote against another. But Tech Madness is a friendly competition and one must move on.)
The winning company will receive a very cool prize from Tampa Bay Inno. What is it exactly? You’ll find out soon enough.
The first round ends on Thursday, March 14th and you can view the whole Tech Madness schedule below...
- Round 1 voting March 8 – March 14. (Recap post on website Friday, March 15)
- Round 2 (Sweet 16) voting March 15 – March 20. (Recap post on website Thursday, March 21)
- Round 3 (Elite :sunglasses: voting March 21 – March 25. (Recap post on the website, Tuesday, March 26)
- Round 4 (Final 4) voting March 26 - March 28. (Recap post on website Friday, March 29)
- Round 5 (Finals) voting March 29 - April 1.
- Announce the 2019 TM Champion post Tuesday, April 2
Vote for your first round picks below and be sure to share the bracket with friends and colleagues. Finally, at the bottom of this post, we posted the complete list of 32 participants.
MATCHUPS:
1 vXchnge8 Atmos Home
1 Vology8 Presence.io
1 FairWarning8 Docola
1 A-LIGN8 Script
2 KnowBe47 Knack
2 ReliaQuest7 Teambrella
2 Peerfit7 Harness
2 Homee7 Tembo
3 Bond-Pro6 Harvest Croo
3 Perch Security6 TAO Connect
3 Dabbl6 Intrinio
3 Venuetize6 PikMyKid
4 Telepathy Labs5 Symphonic Distribution
4 SavvyCard5 SiteZeus
4 Washlava5 BenefitHub
4 5x5 Technologies5 Webtalk
COMPLETE RANKINGS, 1-32:
1vXchnge1Vology1FairWarning1KnowBe42A-LIGN2ReliaQuest2Peerfit2Homee3Bond-Pro3Perch Security3Dabbl3Venuetize4Telepathy Labs4SavvyCard4Washlava45x5 Technologies5Symphonic Distribution5SiteZeus5BenefitHub5Webtalk6Harvest Croo6TAO Connect6Intrinio6PikMyKid7Knack7Teambrella7Harness7Tembo8Atmos Home8Presence.io8Docola8Script
