Cincinnati Startup Modulus Wins Everywhere Else Cincinnati 2013 Startup Champion

Modulus, Startup News, Everywhere Else Cincinnati, Startup ContestModulus founder Charlie Key wasn’t looking to win a startup pitch contest when he signed up for this week’s Everywhere Else Cincinnati conference. Key is very active in the local Cincinnati startup community and likes attending startup events. The Modulus team ended up leaving the event with the big ass trophy.

Startups in the Startup Avenue at Everywhere Else Cincinnati participated in the CincyTech, and Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber Startup Poker Run. Over 50 investors and VIP’s at the conference were given five poker chips on Monday morning when they checked in. From 1:00pm-5:00pm that afternoon the investor group was told to check out all of the startups and hand out their chips to the startup they thought was the best. At the end of the afternoon the 5 startups with the most chips got to pitch to the crowd and to a group of judges.

West Capital’s Mark Richey, Draper Triangle’s Will Indest, a>m ventures Patrick Woods and Cincy Tech’s Avi Ram served as the contests judges.

The five finalists were:

Energy Harvesters- a Boston based startup that uses kinetic energy built up through walking and footwear to charge cell phones.

Kids360 a Memphis based startup that helps parents have  a better piece of mind in emergency situations while their children are in the care of others.

Tixers- a ticketing platform aimed at season ticket holders and others that eliminates the risk of tickets not selling on Craigslist or StubHub.

Spacefinity- a Pittsburgh startup in the sharing community that allows people to rent space in their homes, sheds, garages, basements and other areas for others to store their stuff (AirBnb for storage).

Modulus– a scalable application platform for developers that offers node.js hosting, MongoDB and performance analytics in the cloud, based in Cincinnati.

All fives startups made engaging 3 minute pitches and then were put through a 3 minute Q&A session with the judges.

Modulus was the judges’ favorite with Tixer in 2nd place. Modulus was crowned the Everywhere Else Cincinnati 2013 Startup Champion. They received a huge trophy, bragging rights, and startup services including a branding consultation with archer>malmo (a>m ventures) and an investor meeting with Cincy Tech.

Key was surprised that their team had won, and they quickly took their trophy back to the office and shared it with their social networks.

Find out more about Modulus here. 

EEten-missed

Not Even Arson Could Stop This Startup For Autistic Children From Winning $100,000 In Nevada Contest

Sport-Social, Las Vegas Startup, Autism, Startup Contest

Autistic campers at sport-social enjoy the skateboard ramps during summer camp (photo: lasvegasautism.com)

Sport-Social is an off-line startup founded by 22-year-old therapist for autistic children, Andrew Devitt. Devitt created Sport-Social, a recreation/fun center of sorts, specifically for children with autism, offering therapy through sports, fun, and group activities.  The goal is to teach autistic children social skills through sports, games and the arts.

Last month, The Nevada Institute For Renewable Energy Commercialization held Project Vesto a startup contest with a $100,000 prize for startups across the state. The contest received over 230 entrants, and polling was done online.

Sport-Social was selected as the grand prize winner out of all the entrants. They will receive $25,000 in seed money and must hit milestones in order to receive the rest of the prize money.

While this story has a very very positive outcome, it didn’t look that way a couple of months ago. Back in May an arsonist set fire to the facility causing over $80,000 in damages, the worst nightmare for an already bootstrapped startup. Sport-Social’s employees worked around the clock to partially open up the facility a week later so the over 250 children that benefit from it’s programming.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that when Devitt woke up on Monday, April, 18th his phone was filled with voicemail messages from neighboring businesses and his alarm company. When he first heard the news that Sport-Social had a major fire he didn’t quite comprehend. When he arrived at the location he found out that seven fires had been set and that the prize closet and equipment for the children had been ruined. 24-year-old Samuel Powers, who used to work for an agency that collaborated with Sport-Social, was arrested for setting the fires.

EE-FORENTREPRENEURS

Overcoming the tragedy, rebuilding, and pressing on led the company to the win the contest which will help the rebuilding efforts.

Despite the fire and rebuilding, Sport-Social will benefit from the program in other ways, namely mentorship and guidance on preparing the business to continue to grow in Nevada.

“For startup companies like Sport-Social, it is extremely important to couple hands-on mentorship with seed capital to help ensure their success,” Ian Rogoff, Chairman of the Board of NIREC said in a statement. Through Project Vesto, Sport-Social will gain access to a distinguished network of angel investors, experienced entrepreneurs, and consultants who will work hands-on with Sport-Social over the coming months to take their business concept to the next level. “We look forward to helping Sport-Social become an even bigger success story for Nevada than it already is,” says Rogoff.

You can find out more about the  Project Vesto here and about Sport-Social here.

Check out this Pittsburgh startup PopChilla that created a robot for autistic children.

sneakertaco

Best Of Everywhereelse Startup Video Contest Is Live

everywhereelse.co, startup,startup contestIn just under 2 weeks nearly 100 startups will be in the Startup Village at “everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference” the event takes place in Memphis Tennessee at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. There are actually three startup booths still available!

The startups in the village are competing for a cash prize of $10,000 and other startup related prizes, and to be crowned the best startup “everywhere else”.  Startups in the village have until Friday to submit their video link via dropbox or box.com to video@everywhereelse.co however they will lose time in the voting process which starts right now.

Go to the official everywhereelse.co YouTube Channel and from there feel free to watch all the videos and decide which one you think is best. By liking that video you’ll be giving that startup your vote.

Next Friday, February 8,2013 the voting will end at 11:59pm central time. The comments/likes will be closed on all of the videos. From there, the top 5 startups by “You Tube” likes, will pitch off on Monday at the conference in front of thousands. Through an audience vote we will crown one of them the best of “everywhere else”.

Click here to go to the YouTube Channel and Let the Voting Begin!

Everywhereelse.co Unveils “Best Of Everywhere Else” Startup Contest

Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, Startups, startup video contest,startup contest

All of the participating Startup Village startups for everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference are hereby invited to submit a video up to three minutes long, highlighting what your startup is, and what your startup does.

There will be another live pitch contest during the conference in downtown Memphis Tennessee February 10-12th where you’ll get to pitch investors. So you may want to keep your video geared towards consumers. You want to tell the general public why your startup is the best startup “everywhere else”.

This is your chance to get your social networks, friends and family to vote for you even if they aren’t coming to the conference.

If your startup is not signed up yet for the Startup Village, booths for the village will close officially on Tuesday January 22nd so go register now by clicking here.

Here are the requirements:

– The video can be anything you want highlighting you, your team, your product or your startup
– we would advise you to make the video great for the general public, consumers and investors
– Videos can be NO LONGER than three minutes.
– When your video is ready to go please upload it to drop box and share it with video@everywhereele.co or box.com and share it with video@everywhereelse.co.
– The videos will be uploaded to the internet next Sunday January 27th where voting will commence. The videos will be uploaded by everywhereelse.co the startup conference, for the express purpose of this contest only. After the contest the video and it’s contents remain your property. They will live on our channel indefinitely. We may use any video submitted for marketing for this or future events, and in news stories as they pertain to the business and the contest.
– Videos will only be accepted until 11:59:59pm Eastern Time on Sunday January 27th.
– The voting period will run from January 28th to February 3, 2013. The five startups with the most votes will do a final pitch off at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference on Monday February 11, 2013 in front of the judging panel. The panel of the judges and an audience participation vote will decide the final winner.

If you have any questions please email video@everywhereelse.co

MassChallenge Reveals Final 26 Startups Of 2012

MassChallenge,Accelerator,startup,startups,startup contest,Boston startupsMassChallenge, the world’s largest global startup accelerator competition announced the final 26 startups that will compete before the judges. The 26 startups will pick between 10 and 20 startups who will be announced at MassChallenge’s high profile awards ceremony event on October 23.

This year’s MassChallenge competition opened up on March 1st and attracted 1,237 applications from 35 countries and 26 U.S. states. From there 125 startups were chosen to participate in MassChallenge’s 3 month accelerator program. The accelerator program offered the startups free office space, access to resources and one of the best mentor networks in the world.

All 26 startup teams will have one minute each to pitch their startup to over 1200 attendees at the awards ceremony. The stakes are high, with over $10,000,000 in prizes with no strings attached. There will be over $1,000,000 in grants awarded and $9,000,000 worth of in-kind benefits.

Unlike many other accelerators, the entire MassChallenge program is non-equity based, meaning that participating companies, and companies that receive monetary awards, give up no equity.

Here are the 26 startups:

Akrivis Technologies

Black Island Wind Turbines

Bounce Imaging

BuysideFX

Capital Market Exchange (CMX)

Cellanyx Diagnostics

CoachUp

Dynamo Micropower

Global Research Innovation & Technology (GRIT)

Guided Surgery Solutions

HelmetHub Corporation

iAgree

IntegralReach

Lab Automate Technologies Inc

LiquiGlide

Lovin’ Spoonfuls Inc

Ministry of Supply Inc.

NBA Math Hoops

Neumitra

Nordic Technology Group (NTG)

OnDeckBiotech

RallyPoint

Recovers.org

Strong Arm Technologies, Inc.

Ubiqi Health

WindGap Medical Inc.

MassChallenge features top notch judges from the Boston tech community and from around the world. This years judges are:

Colin Angle

Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board, iRobot

Sam Bastia

Global Strategy Executive, Verizon Communications

Josh Boger

Founder and former CEO/Chair, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Desh Deshpande

Serial entrepreneur and mentor, Chair A123 Systems

Paul English

Founder & CTO, Kayak.com

Corinne Grousbeck

Brand Strategist & Advisor at Gemvara

Wyc Grousbeck

CEO, governor, and co-owner of the Boston Celtics

Jamie Kiggen

President, Riverside Company

Jit Saxena

Founder and Former CEO, Netezza

Niraj Shah

CEO and Co-Founder, Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores)

Amy Stursberg

Executive Director, Blackstone Charitable Foundation

Mike Wilens

Special Advisor, Senior Fidelity Management

“Over 400 entrepreneurs from across the globe came together in the Boston Innovation District to address some of the world’s most challenging problems together with the tremendous resources in the Boston startup community,” said MassChallenge Chief Mentorship Officer Karl Büttner. “MassChallenge 2012 represents another great example of the growth, energy and excitement that can only be produced through collaboration. It is truly inspiring to work closely with the hundreds of MassChallenge mentors and judges who volunteer their time, effort and advice to help the 125 MassChallenge startups grow.”

Linkage:

Find out more about MassChallenge here

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FedEx Announces $50,000 Startup/Small Business Competition

FedEx,Grant Contest,startup,startups,startup contest,memphis startupNothing screams crazy startup entrepreneur like FedEx and Fred Smith. In fact business folklore says that when Smith wrote about his idea, that eventually became the largest logistics company in the world, for a paper at Yale he got a C. Think about how crazy the idea would be in the early 70’s to connect trucks and jets to deliver packages overnight.

In recent years FedEx has begun to pay homage to Smith’s entrepreneurial roots by opening up their own FedEx labs, and sponsoring the FedEx institute of Technology at the University of Memphis, among other things.

Now the company has followed in the foot steps of other companies like Pitney Bowes, and developed a small business (read: startups) contest.

Our good friend James Dowd at Startup Memphis reports that FedEx will award a total of 6 small businesses cash prizes totaling $50,000. There’s one $25,000 grand prize and the five other businesses will receive a $5,000 prize.

The business must have less than 100 employees and crowd voting will be done through Facebook. The voting started October 1st and runs through November 24th, and it’s not too late to enter.  The winners will be announced in January.

“FedEx has long recognized that small businesses are incredibly vital to the health of both the global economy and local communities,” said T. Michael Glenn, executive vice president of Market Development at FedEx.  “Providing these grants is yet another way for FedEx to show our support for small businesses as we continue to create programs to help give them a head start and access to new opportunities.”

Linkage:

Enter the contest here

More startup news from everywhere else

Boom! And it’s on

Insider Louisville To Continue Spirit Of IdeaFestival With Call For Social Pitches

Insider Louisville,startup,startup contest,social entrepreneurship,social startup,Kentucky startup,IdeaFestivalIf you’re looking for a great startup ecosystem in the middle of the country to check out, Louisville Kentucky is one of the top cities on our list. Kentucky has one of the most active Startup America partnerships. They have some great acceleration efforts going on state wide, and they’ve brewed some great startups like Impulcity, WhyWait and Beam just to name three that fall off the top of our heads.

That’s why it’s no surprise the folks at Insider Lousiville are gelling off the success of the most recent IdeaFestival. Now that the festival is over they want to continue the forward momentum and spark innovation. To that end Insider Louisville is now calling for social entrepreneurs to pitch their startups for the possibility of investment, incubation, free office space and more.

In this blog post, Insider Louisville writes:

Give us your detailed plan for a self-sustaining, social-impact business based on the concepts of social entrepreneurism.

If we believe your idea has potential, we’ll get you face time with major philanthropists, entrepreneurs and economic development including Ted Smith, director of Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government’s Department of Economic Development and Innovation.

If your business plan is viable, investors and management gurus will help you forge your idea into a working enterprise … a startup with a reasonable amount of time and capital to prove its worth.

Smith went on to say; “Idea Festival was the appetizer – bring on the main course and let’s take a social impact business to the next level.”

Ideafestival just wrapped up last week in Lexington Kentucky. The four day startup and innovation conference featured a wide variety of panels, keynotes and other resources for just about anyone in Kentucky at any level in starting their own business or startup.

As for this call to action by Insider Lousiville, they’re specifically looking for social startups. They are looking for ideas that echo the fundamentals behind startups like Waterstep, a Louisville startup that oversees water purification in third world countries, or the now nationally famous Tom’s shoes that donates a pair of shoes to children in need for every pair of shoes you purchase.

Insider Louisville says that they’re looking for ideas from anywhere and the right idea could result in the startup getting help to move to Louisville Kentucky to build it out.

“This isn’t just empty Chamber of Commerce sloganeering. This is a call to action at the nexus where capitalism meets practical, sustainable social change.” Insider Louisville says.

Ready to submit? Check the link below.

Linkage

Source: Insider Louisville

Got an idea, email it to cheryl@insiderlouisville.com

More Kentucky coverage from Nibletz, the voice of startups “everywhere else”

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Miami Startups: Herald Announces Winners For 2012 Business Plan Competition

The Miami Herald newspaper just announced the winners of their 14th annual business plan competition contest. The contest had several tracks including a high school track and the winners came from a variety of categories. Yes you read that correctly while many cities are just now working on their inaugural business plan competitions, and others have contests less than five years old, the Miami Herald has been promoting startups through the contest for fourteen years.

All of the contestants were judged by entrepreneurial experts from the Miami area as well as successful entrepreneurs, investors, consultants and academics. The Herald also has a “People’s Pick” category that was voted on by video. The contest is sponsored by Florida International Univerity’s Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center.

The winner of the community track was a winery experience for cruise ships called Blend Craft Wines. Blend Craft Wines also won the “People’s Pick” category, which was the first time in the last six years that the same startup has won both categories.

A mobile couponing Android app called Geopon won the FIU track in voting. Other startups that ranked in the top included: Agape Marine Ventures, LegalFileIt, BidThatProject and WedWu.

More after the break
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