While The Wharf's expansive concert venue The Anthem is typically where you go to see big names like The Foo Fighters or Jack White play live, Thursday night's crew was there for an entirely different reason: a startup pitch competition.
1776 and Revolution hosted the final round of the fourth annual Challenge Cup competition Thursday night, bringing together 20 startups from around the world to pitch for the chance to win a $100,000 investment prize from Revolution.
Startups ran the gamut from education tech startups from Florida to a medical service in Quito, Ecuador to an insurance platform in Pakistan. Each one of the 20 competed in two rounds of the competition, including an entry round in a city like Miami or Pittsburgh, and then won the following semifinals round.
And in the end, three startups came out victorious. Miami-based edtech startup Caribu won the $100,000 investment prize from Revolution; Manchester, UK-based mental health startup myHappymind won $20,000 in Amazon Web Services credits and D.C.-based Airside Mobile won the $1,000 Rapid Fire Pitch prize, which was decided by audience votes.
All 20 startups had only two minutes to pitch themselves to a panel of judges in the final round. While the judges deliberated, each founder came back on stage for a one-minute "rapid fire" pitch, and the audience would vote on who would win that round. Judges for the final rounds included Rise of the Rest's Anna Mason, 1776 Chief Strategy Officer Penny Lee, 1776 co-founder and chairman Evan Burfield, 3Pillar Global CTO Jonathan Rivers and Amazon Web Services' Tricia Davis-Muffett.
"I do truly believe in the elevator pitch," said Maxeme Tuchman, CEO of Caribu, in an interview. "If you cannot explain your startup in 45 seconds, then something is wrong,"
Founded in 2014, Caribu is an online platform that makes it easier for people to read to children virtually. For example, if a soldier who is deployed for an assignment wants to call their child who is at home and read to them, they can do so easily via Caribu's video calling and in-app book selections.
In 2014, the startup closed a $100,000 seed round, according to Crunchbase. But Tuchman said the company is currently working on a round of funding, and the new investment will go towards that round. The new funds will help Caribu expand its team and develop an Android version of their platform, which is currently only available on iOS.
"Rise of the Rest, Revolution, Steve Case could not have been a better funder for what we're doing," Tuchman said. "Their whole ethos is 'We have got the get out of San Francisco and New York and out of normal tech hubs.' So to have a Latina CEO, in Miami, in edtech winning this competition is so exciting."
The year's Challenge Cup finals were originally slated to happen at 1776's Brooklyn Navy Yard space in November. However, in December, 1776 and Revolution announced they were bringing the final rounds back to D.C. and to The Anthem in March. While it wasn't officially stated, the announcement did come after 1776 temporarily lost its physical Brooklyn location.
Here's a list of who all pitched at the final round of the Challenge Cup, with descriptions provided by 1776:
- Adrich — Pittsburgh, PA — Adrich collects and transmits product usage data autonomously through connected smart product labels, so consumer brands and retailers can better understand and serve their consumers.
- Airside Mobile, Inc.— Washington, DC – Airside’s free Mobile Passport app helps travelers breeze through US Customs & passport control. Over 3 million people have used Mobile Passport at 25 leading airports and seaports!
- Babierge — Albuquerque, NM — Babierge (baby + concierge) is the leading baby gear rental marketplace now in 125 US and Canadian locations. We help families “Pack Light, Travel Far” by delivering and setting-up clean quality baby gear such as cribs, high chairs, toys and car seats, to their hotel, vacation rental, or grandparent’s home.
- Boogaloo Beds — Denver, CO — 80% of kids with Autism have daily sleep issues and over 50% have severe safety concerns, often due to their sensory processing. Boogaloo Beds are smart beds that allow a person to control their sensory environments to improve their sleep and safety.
- Caribu — Miami, FL — Caribu is an award-winning live-streaming communications and collaboration platform whose first focus is helping parents, extended family, and mentors read and draw with children when they’re not in the same location. We are “FaceTime meets Kindle”, for kids.
- Cloudrino IO — Jaipur, India — Cloudrino IO is a distributed computing platform built on blockchain.
- CommuScore — Johannesburg, South Africa — CommuScore provides an alternative credit scoring solution for individuals and small businesses that are unbanked and financially excluded because they do not have a credit identity.
- EasyInsurance — Pakistan — EasyInsurance is Pakistan’s first online insurance aggregator aiming to educate the masses regarding insurance, and digitize & simplify the insurance acquisition process.
- Empath Inc. — Tokyo, Japan — Empath develops Emotion AI Empath, which can identify emotion from the voice in real-time regardless of the language.
- Globish Academia Co., LTD — Bangkok, Thailand — Globish is a technology-based english school for equal access to learning.
- Hargol FoodTech — Tel Aviv, Israel — Hargol is the world’s first commercial grasshopper farm and distributor. Knack — Tampa, FL — Knack is a platform for college students to book/list 1-on-1 and group tutoring services. It is a local marketplace for peer-to-peer college tutoring.
- Madorra — Portland OR — Madorra is a women’s health company changing the paradigm for treating vaginal dryness. MU Ltd. — Osaka, Japan — MU Ltd has developed the “MiniMermaid”, self-propelled capsule endoscopy using a fin, to examine the total G.I. tract at once. It releases doctors from the “older and limited” diagnosis method and patients from painful and expensive examinations and fear in finding their cancer too late.
- myHappymind — Manchester, UK — myHappymind creates an innovative curriculum for parents, schools and nurseries teaching proactive and preventative mental health habits. Delivered via a technology platform and supported by an app, myHappymind’s sole purpose is to give today’s children the skills to thrive in tomorrow’s world.
- Novulis — Quito, Ecuador — Novulis is mobilizing access to preventative dental care through on-site mobile and stationary clinics. It’s mission is to bridge the gap of access to preventative healthcare services in Latin America to improve society, diminish poverty, and improve health outcomes.
- ProvenMed International — Tunis, Tunisia — ProvenMed Technologies is a medical device company focused on the field of urine incontinence. Its flagship product, ActivGo, has been designed to offer a comfortable and cost effective urine incontinence management device revolutionizing the current market.
- RH Medical Design Company — Salt Lake City, UT — RH Medical Design Co. is the creator of Alivio. Alivio is a female urinary aid designed to reduce pain associated with urination.
- Riby FLT — Lagos, Nigeria — Riby is an Open Banking Platform for African SMEs. They automate trade & savings groups called “cooperatives” across Africa and partner with banks & payment service providers to make access to finance and prudent finance management easier for their 920,000+ users.
- WakeCap Technologies — Dubai, UAE — WakeCap is an enterprise solution to improve construction safety & productivity through technology. They help construction companies quantify labor productivity, automate workforce logistics, and improve safety measures.
