It's that time again. The sixth annual bracket-style tech challenge is geared up and ready to get started.
Each year, Tampa Bay Inno commences Inno Madness, a friendly bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in? Nominations to place startups into the initial seeding opened on March 13, and those interested have until March 25 to nominate the most engaging startups.
Tampa Bay Inno is seeking nominations for private, tech-enabled, fast-growing companies that can hold their own in a head-to-head challenge with some of the brightest in the region.
Want to nominate a startup? Visit this page.
Voting rules can be found here.
Ultimately, it's up to readers to decide why they're nominating startups. Is the startup the scrappiest and most endearing team of founders? Is it the most explosive? Does it have the most excellent product?
After nominations close, 32 companies will be selected from the entries for the first round, and the companies will continue to compete throughout March. Seeding will be determined based on funding, and the winner will be crowned on May 1. Readers will vote throughout the following five rounds, which will happen first at a weekly interval and speed up as competition heightens.
Make no mistake — Inno Madness isn't about pure competition. The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the promising tech companies in Tampa Bay. It is certainly not a complete list of the region's top startups. It's also not a list of the most-funded startups in the region as entries are open to startups at any level.
The competition will reveal and represent a range of industries and diversity in the Tampa ecosystem. Ultimately, it's a glimpse at the startups to watch in 2024. So stay tuned as nominations close and voting begins. It's sure to be an engaging match.
Last year, St. Petersburg-based Bedrock brought home an overwhelming victory over runner-up Signature Athletics with an 85% margin. For the previous two years, Paragon Cyber Solutions crushed it. In 2020, ReliaQuest flashed foreshadowed greatness with its competition win — the company hit a $1 billion valuation the following year. Perch Security, later acquired by Tampa tech firm ConnectWise, won the first-ever Inno Madness in 2019.
