D.C.-based Qntfy won $10,000 on Saturday after taking first place at the Foundry Cup, hosted by startup incubator Eastern Foundry. Qntify was one of 14 finalists from around the country pitching ideas on how to help people with post-traumatic stress disorder to a group of judges including Geoff Orazem, CEO of Eastern Foundry, Charles Engel, a health scientist with a specialty in traumas like PTSD and international business advisory firm executive Mark Brunner.
Qntfy has developed a method of analyzing social media posts on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to broadly gauge mental health, specificially in those who may have PTSD. That data can help medical professionals work on the best treatment regimen for their patients, even if their condition isn't obvious.
"We had the opportunity to tell our story [Saturday] which definitely helps to raise awareness about our solution," said Qntfy co-founder Glen Coppersmith. "The Foundry Cup was a great place for us to connect with other individuals passionate about finding solutions to PTSD – the connections we made this weekend will be invaluable as we continue to push our product into the market."
Making those connections was a central motivation behind holding the competition. Bringing people together with an interest in helping people with PTSD, whether or not they won, could lead to even more advances in the field as time goes on.
"There is no one direct approach to treating PTSD," said Eastern Foundry managing partner Andrew Chang. "We picked it partly because there are so many ways to work on it."
Other groups besides Qntify won smaller prizes. San Antonio-based Sound-Off came in second place for its mobile platform offering anonymous care from volunteers for veterans dealing with PTSD, while Arlington-based Sandboxx won $1,000 in a vote from the audience at the event for its app, which lets people upload letters and images that Sandboxx then turns into physical documents and pictures to send to veterans posted abroad.
startup incubator Eastern Foundry
