Some of the best tech startups in the world are in D.C. this week for the Challenge Cup Festival, hosted by tech incubator 1776. 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.
Semifinalists in each competition category of energy, education, health and transportation and cities will head to the final competition on Saturday at Sydney Harman Hall. After education and energy, 20 health startup founders got up and pitched their hearts out, with two chosen to win $50,000 with the chance for another $150,000 if they win at the finals. The two health companies chosen by the judges were the Chicago-based ReliefWatch,a platform for helping NGO's run health clinics in the developing world and the Mexico City-based biotech startup Unima, a developer of a diagnostic tool that collects health data from around the world, offering real-time analytics of the data to help public health officials paint a clear picture of health concerns anywhere they have data.
Whichever company wins the category will win an expenses-paid trip to several key industry events. All of the startups at the competition are being introduced to 1776’s network of mentors, investors, entrepreneurs this week.
