The final showdown of Inno Madness has ended, with one local startup prevailing over 15 others. How did your bracket hold up?
Were you able to correctly predict a true Cinderella story going all the way?
No. 16 Finger Flyer beat No. 10 Fuse Oncology by all of 53 votes – from a total of 583 votes – to take the championship title.
Finger Flyer, created by High Point University student Erin Morrow, offers educational STEM kits to build handheld quadcopter drones with gesture-controlled sensors. The kits are paired with a week’s worth of lab activities based on physics and drone technology, as well as answer keys and suggested grading rubrics for teachers.
TBJ named Morrow a Founder Under 25 last September for her STEM-based startup.
Both Finger Flyer and Fuse Oncology will be honored in a special section in Friday’s print edition.
Triad Business Journal unveiled its second Inno Madness bracket last month, with 16 local startups competing in the friendly challenge where readers vote on one, wide-ranging question: Who would you invest in?
Readers decided for themselves how to answer that question – perhaps a startup’s mission and product called to them more than how long a company has been around, for example.
The ultimate goal of Inno Madness is to bring awareness to the Triad’s thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and some of the region’s coolest new companies that represent a variety of industries, locations and sizes. If you missed them, you can find a full list describing participants below.
For more on local companies on the rise, check our 2023 Startups to Watch, as well as our Founders Under 25 and Inno Fire honorees. You can also find last year’s Inno Madness section here.
