Fifteen companies from Tampa Bay Wave's portfolio have been selected to participate in TechCrunch's 2024 Startup Battlefield, a global startup competition taking place in San Francisco this October.
For over 15 years, TechCrunch has featured top startups worldwide across any industry in tech, according to its website.
"We're immensely proud of these companies and their founders," Tampa Bay Wave Manager Jennifer Ptack said in a statement. "Their selection underscores the strength of Tampa Bay's startup ecosystem and the impact Tampa Bay Wave is having in fostering growth and success."
Historically, TechCrunch picked 20 early-stage startups to showcase. Now, the Startup Battlefield cohort has grown to feature 200 companies.
According to its website, the final startups selected will make pitches in front of tier-1 venture capital firms, with the winner receiving $100,000 in equity-free prize money.
"Seeing the large contingent of Wave portfolio companies chosen for Tech Crunch's Startup Battlefield (nearly 10% of the entire competition) reflects the high quality of our founders and the critical problems their startups are solving," Tampa Bay Wave Managing Director Dr. Richard Munassi said in a statement.
Munassi said several Tampa Bay Wave team members will fly to San Francisco for the conference.
"As our organization continues to grow and mature as a leader, in not only the Gulf Coast but also nationally, we anticipate correlating success from our portfolio," Munassi said. "Seeing our companies take the stage where alumni like Dropbox, CloudFlare, Fitbit and more have [have been], reflects just that."
The 15 companies representing Tampa Bay Wave are:
- 360Video
- BlueTeamAI
- CleverFi
- Cuemby
- Hadley
- Haptic
- Karambit
- Kuemby
- Lazo
- Miss Berni
- OTIF
- Ovum
- Prosal
- Pulse Charter Connect
- Vitvio
