Washington, D.C. tech startup incubator 1776 will play host to 65 startups from 54 cities and more 40 countries next week for the annual Challenge Festival. The startups will compete for $1 million in potential prizes, the culmination of almost a year's worth of pitch competitions around the globe.
"These companies will have an amazing opportunity to connect with each other [at the Challenge Festival]," 1776 director of global affairs Brandon Pollak told DC Inno. "There's a lot of sheer excitement from investors, entrepreneurs and corporate executives in meeting companies they didn't even know existed.
The weeklong celebration and competition kicks off on June 7 with a party at Carnegie Library and closes June 10 with the final competition and closing party at Lincoln Theater. Startups are split based on industry, with the health, money and security semi-finalist startups pitching on Wednesday evening and the cities, education, energy, food and transportation startups pitching on Thursday. The final will be on Friday, where a winner from each category and an overall winner will be chosen by the judges, with the grand prize of $175,000 in cash. There will also be a $10,000 for an audience favorite, voted on that night.
There are two local startups that managed to make it to the semi-finals. Transportation software and digital sign startup TransitScreen and Maya Health Network, the developer of a mobile app for collecting and analyzing medical data for doctors working in rural and developing areas. Maya will pitch on Wednesday at Longview Gallery and TransitScreen will present on Thursday at Lincoln Theater.
"There are just so many great companies from around the world that will get to showcase what they do [at the Festival," Pollak said. "I really think everyone will see something exciting."
