Caremerge, CityScan, myPower, and youtopia Named Regional Winners at Challenge Cup Chicago
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) November 05, 2013 -- Today, 1776, an incubator platform located a few blocks from the White House, in partnership with 1871, a Chicago-based hub for digital startups announced the winners of Challenge Cup for the Chicago region.
Challenge Cup is a startup competition spanning 16 cities around the world and culminating in Washington, D.C. to find the world’s most promising startups tackling education, healthcare, energy, and city challenges.
Thirty-one startups, distilled from 62 regional applications, competed during the evening of November 4th event with more than 250 attendees. The competitors also participated in an accelerator program for the two days preceding the competition.
“Chicago had an impressive showing in this global competition and the judges had a difficult time selecting only one winner in each category,” said Donna Harris, co-founder of 1776. “The increasing depth of the Chicago entrepreneurial ecosystem shows in the pool of really good companies striving to solve critical, global challenges. We thank the startups, mentors and community that came out to participate in the Challenge Cup.”
Troy Hemikoff from Techstars spoke at the two-day event and Chicago’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, also met with Challenge Cup competitors. The regional winners include:
•Education: youtopia, a student engagement platform that provides plug-and-play gamification tools (points, badges, and leaderboards) that incentivizes students to become more engaged in their school and community.
•Energy: myPower, a running companion that clips to your hip and captures your kinetic energy as you run. myPower stores this energy so you can use it to charge your smartphone or other mobile device later in the day.
•Healthcare: Caremerge, a healthcare technology company dedicated to revolutionizing communication and care coordination in senior living.
•Smart Cities: CityScan, a technology that empowers municipalities to observe and predict street-level activity so they can proactively respond to changes that impact their communities.
The next Challenge Cup competitions will be held in Moscow at Digital October on November 9, and Berlin at Betahaus on November 13. London, Los Angeles, New York and Boston will follow at the end of November through December.
To be accepted, companies must be less than three years old, have less than $3M USD in revenue to date, have a scalable product or service already in the market, evidence some level of traction (active users, enterprise customers, or revenue), and have raised less than $1.5M USD in capital. Companies can apply on http://challengecup.1776dc.com/apply.
About 1776
1776 is a major initiative focused on helping entrepreneurs seeking to reinvent our lives as citizens. Located just blocks from the White House, 1776 convenes and accelerates startups from around the world by connecting them to the political, intellectual, social and financial capital that make Washington, D.C. unique. Visit http://www.1776dc.com or @1776dc on Twitter for more information.
About 1871
1871 is the flagship project of The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), a non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurs on their path to building high-growth, sustainable businesses that serve as platforms for economic development and civic leadership. 1871 fulfills the CEC’s vision of a central address for entrepreneurs in Chicago. CEC runs and operates the workspace, develops programming, organizes events and ensures that the culture of 1871 allows entrepreneurs the greatest opportunity for success. Visit http://www.1871.com or @1871Chicago on Twitter for more information.
Lisa Throckmorton, SpeakerBox Communications, http://www.1776dc.com, 703-287-7803, [email protected]
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