Game on, Twin Cities. Minne Inno is going live with its annual Tech Madness bracket to help generate excitement about local startups and tech firms.
Over the next few weeks, 32 startups will face off against one another. Readers will determine who will continue on and who will fade out of the tournament.
We seeded the companies based on their disclosed levels of funding. Your job is simple: Which companies would you rather invest in?
Each week, this page will be updated to show which startups have moved on. Our first round of voting ends March 14, so please vote below!
Round one
Round one brought some major upsets and some hard-fought wins. Over 2,000 readers voted, and 16 startups have advanced to the second round.
In an early show of strength, Total Expert received the most votes in the first round. The biggest upset win belonged to No. 8 seed Minnesota Cup winner BlueCube Bio, which beat out No. 1 seed Relievant Medsystems, a medical device company treating back pain that has raised over $200 million in venture capital. BlueCube received 56% of the vote.
Another upset was the No. 7 political tech company Civic Eagle's win over No. 2 seed medical-device fim Aria CV. Fifty-two percent of readers voted for Civic Eagle.
Some other upsets included:
• Clinician Nexus (7) beat KeyedIn (2);
• Omnia Fishing (6) beat ClickSWITCH (3);
• phData (6) beat Soona (3).
Round two
Round two of Tech Madness was defined by close matches with two contests decided by just a single vote.
No. 6-seeded phData topped No.1 Total Expert by one vote after Total Expert pulled in the most votes in the first round. Machine learning startupPhData has now pulled off two upsets in a row after it beat No. 3 Soona in the first round. No. 5 SportsDigita also won by one vote, knocking No. 2 Dispatch out of the tournament.
No. 3 Alula, a St. Paul-based security system company, received the most votes in the second round. It will face Flywheel.io in the third round.
The Tech Madness challenge has generated 3,547 votes so far.
Round three
And then there were four.
Over 4,000 people have voted in this year's Tech Madness, narrowing the contest to just four teams. For the second round in a row, St. Paul-based No. 3 Alula received the most votes. It now faces off against No. 6 phData, which has overcome three higher-seeded opponents in a row, including No. 5 SportsDigita. PhData edged out SportsDigita by just 11 votes.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 Bright Health faces No. 4 Structual.ai.
Round four
Last chance to dance in Tech Madness!
No. 4 Structural takes on No.3 Alula in the final after both swept away their competition. Structural beat No. 1 Bright Health with 81% of votes, while Alula beat No. 6 phData with 74% of votes.
Alula was the top vote earner and 4,649 votes have been cast in the tournament.
One vote per person per day; read contest rules here.
