Some of the best tech startups in the world are in D.C. this week for the Challenge Cup Festival, hosted by local tech incubator 1776. The 64 startup companies from all over the country and the world are competing for $650,000 in prizes after being chosen from a year of events in 16 cities around the world. Two semifinalists, one from the U.S. and one international in each competition category of energy, education, health and smart cities will head to the final competition on Saturday. The judges have selected the energy and education finalists, with the health and smart cities contests not yet underway. Check out the chosen four below who have at the very least won a $50,000 semi-finalist prize.
Education
eduCanon is a local startup, based right in D.C. that built and runs an online learning platform for interactive video lessons. Teachers can use any video to time-link questions and break down videos into separate components. It also lets teachers monitor student engagement to plan for future lessons. More than 20,000 teachers have signed up to use the free webapp, with more joining all the time.
Lingua.ly, created in Tel Aviv, Israel, was chosen as the education international finalist for its language learning platform for iOS, Android and Google Chrome. Designed to use more natural language learning methods, it tests language skills and recommends foreign language articles on the Web that will help improve your language skills. The idea is to apply language learning to the real world in a way not usually done in traditional education.
Energy
Water Lens was founded in Austin, Texas and won the domestic semifinal for its simple chemical test for fracking waters. The kits costs less than $2 each to make and sell for $80 to test for contaminants at wells before deciding whether to reinject frack waters into another hole. It has the potential to save billions in wasted water.
The Berlin-based startup PlugSurfing is planning ahead for the coming boom in electric cars with an app to aggregate all the different companies with charging stations to make paying for a charge quick and easy compared to the around 100 different IDs that might be needed to charge a car anywhere in Europe. According to the company, a quarter of Europe's electric vehicle drivers are already using the app.
These four and the other finalists will face off for a $150,000 prize on Saturday and all 64 companies will have a chance to win an audience favorite prize at finals.
