WriteReader, Plugsurfing, OPTretina and einFach Move on in Competition After Challenge Cup Berlin
Washington, DC (PRWEB) November 18, 2013 -- Today, 1776, an incubator platform located a few blocks from the White House, in partnership with Betahaus a Berlin-based shared space for creative minds announced the winners of the Challenge Cup for the Berlin 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.
Nineteen startups competed during the evening of November 13th event. The competitors also participated in an accelerator program for the two days preceding the competition.
“As the competition progresses we continue to be impressed by the innovative ideas pitched by startups,” said Evan Burfield, co-founder of 1776. “The Berlin competition brought together startups from Barcelona to Sophia and featured a wide range of ideas that are tackling some of the biggest challenges the world faces today. The creative minds we have seen thus far are laying the groundwork for a tough competition in May 2014.”
The regional winners include:
• Education: WriteReader ApS – Based out of Copenhagen, WriteReader is an app which teaches children to read by writing. The app is developed and tested primary by schoolteachers in cooperation with leading Danish scientific researchers.
• Energy: Plugsurfing – Based out of Berlin, Plugsurfing is a solution to finding electric car charging points and barrier free payment for EV charging.
• Healthcare: OPTretina – Based out of Barcelona, OPTretina helps people to know if they are going to have eye problems. According to WHO, 80% of blindness cases are completely avoidable, it’s a matter of early detection. OPTretina provides easy access to eye examinations.
• Smart Cities: einFach – Based out of Berlin, einFach is the Dropbox for real things and services. Allows users to organize and pay for their daily errands through the app.
The next Challenge Cup competition will be held in London at Impact Hub on November 20. Los Angeles, New York and Boston will follow at the end of November through December. Challenge Cup Global Partners include: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, District of Columbia, Pearson, TechCocktail, iStrategyLabs, Microsoft, and The Aspen Institute.
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 at1776dc on Twitter for more information.
Kathryn Kaplan, SpeakerBox Communications, +1 3019388726, [email protected]
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