RockYourPaper, Longman Suntech Energy, Zest.md, and SpaceshipApp Emerge As Winners from Startup Competition in India
Washington, D.C. and New Delhi, India (PRWEB) February 25, 2014 -- Today, 1776, an incubator platform located a few blocks from the White House, in partnership with TLabs, a startup accelerator and early stage seed-fund in India for Internet and mobile technology startups announced the winners of Challenge Cup for the New Delhi 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 innovating in the categories of education, healthcare, energy, and smart cities.
Nineteen startups, distilled from 49 applications competed during the event on February 22. Abhishek Gupta, who heads TLabs, joined the judges panel for the competition.
“As we head into the final Challenge Cup competitions, we’ve been blown away by the level of passion and ingenuity we’ve encountered throughout our global travels,” said Evan Burfield, cofounder of 1776. “New Delhi is no different, these competitors have shown immense creativity in solving some of the world’s greatest challenges.”
The regional winners include:
• Education: RockYourPaper is a platform for researchers and students to discover and publish journal articles in an affordable way. Launching only four months ago, they already have 40,000 users from more than 200 countries and plan to have half a million users in the next six months.
• Energy: Longman Suntech Energy leases rooftop solar panel to Indian citizens in order to provide them with clean, renewable energy at no extra cost to the users. Users only pay for the amount of electricity they consume.
• Healthcare: Zest.md is an e-clinic platform, which allows health coaches to automate their marketing and communication initiatives. The platform allows health coaches to grow their clinics, lowering the overall costs for the patient.
• Smart Cities: SpaceshipApp provides rideshare options to India’s 155 million people to drive to work daily. The app connects drivers with passengers including women-only rides, in-ride chat, real-time ride tracking, cash-free transactions and user verification.
The Challenge Cup competition has its final stop next week in San Francisco, CA on February 27th. The Challenge Festival will run from May 10th to May 17th, with the headline event, the Challenge Cup Global Finals, taking place the afternoon of May 17th. View the schedule and register for badges here. Challenge Cup Global Partners include: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, District of Columbia, Pearson, TechCocktail, iStrategyLabs, Microsoft, The Aspen Institute, and Booze Allen Hamilton.
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.
Lisa Throckmorton, SpeakerBox, +1 7032877820, [email protected]
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