Two of D.C. tech's most prominent organizations are teaming up to support the same message: startups can start from anywhere.
This year, 1776's Challenge Cup is teaming up with Revolution's Rise of the Rest for the part-venture capital firm, part-incubator's global series of pitch competitions, according to a press release today.
"By partnering with Revolution we are reinforcing the networks necessary for startups to solve meaningful problems on a global stage," said Evan Burfield, 1776's co-founder and CEO, in a statement.
1776 is also hosting the competition on its UNION Network platform for the first time, bringing together startups in each of the typically "fragmented" startup hubs the Challenge Cup will be in.
In all, the Challenge Cup will head to 75 cities, including a cohort from the Rise of the Rest tour. In each city, startups will pitch themselves for a chance to represent their startup hub in the multi-day 2017 Challenge Festival competition at 1776's Brooklyn campus in November. The tour includes 20 U.S. state capitals, six Rise of the Rest cities and each of 1776's campus locations.
The Challenge Cup kicks off in D.C. on May 22. The confirmed tour locations include the following cities, per 1776's press release:
- American Underground — Durham, NC, USA (Rise of the Rest City)
- Benjamin’s Desk — Philadelphia, PA, USA (Rise of the Rest City)
- BIAT — Tunis, Tunisia (Capital City)
- D.CAMP — Seoul, South Korea (Capital City)
- ECOEM — Caracas, Venezuela (Capital City)
- Found.Ation — Athens, Greece (Capital City)
- Grupo Rede Mais — Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
- Grupo Rede Mais — Quito, Ecuador (Capital City)
- Hive Colab — Kampala, Uganda (Capital City)
- Iceaddis — Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Capital City)
- iHub — Nairobi, Kenya (Capital City)
- Invest2Innovate — Islamabad, Pakistan (Capital City)
- iSpace Foundation — Accra, Ghana (Capital City)
- Japan Innovation Network — Osaka, Japan
- Japan Innovation Network — Tokyo, Japan (Capital City)
- National Digital Research Centre — Dublin, Ireland (Capital City)
- Novus — Cochabamba, Bolivia
- PIE — Portland, OR, USA
- StartupAZ — Phoenix, AZ, USA (Capital, Rise of the Rest City)
- Startup Mexico — Merida, Mexico
- Startup Mexico — Mexico City, Mexico (Capital City)
- Station Houston — Houston, TX, USA
- Talent Garden — Milan, Italy
- Tampa Bay WaVE — Tampa, FL, USA
- tekMountain — Wilmington, NC, USA
- The Commons — Denver, CO (Capital, Rise of the Rest City)
- Urban Redevelopment Authority — Pittsburgh, PA, USA (Rise of the Rest City)
- 1776 — Dubai, UAE
- 1776 — New York, NY, USA
- 1776 — Washington, DC, USA (Capital City)
- 43North — Buffalo, NY, USA (Rise of the Rest City)
