Today MassChallenge has whittled down the pool of 110 startups to only 26. Since April 440 entrants from 26 countries and 24 states had the opportunity to vie for the $1 million dollar prize. The initial 440 was then cut down to 110 in late July, and ever since it has been a sprint to the finish.
The final awards will take place next Thursday Oct 21st, and up until then these final 26 teams will be pitching to a panel of judges who will only select 15 to receive a chunk of the $1 million. While it is unclear as to whether all of the $1 million has been raised, the awards will still be presented. It does cost money to attend the final awards though…
The remaining 26 are:
- 3Play Media
- 7Solar Technologies, Inc.
- Abroad 101
- Architexa
- Aukera Therapeutics, Inc.
- Brass Monkey
- Embed.ly, Inc.
- Energesis Pharmaceuticals
- JoyTunes
- Ksplice
- Locately
- Novophage
- OsComp Systems
- OsmoPure
- Pearl’s Premium
- Relay Technology Management, Inc.
- RelayRides
- Rentabilities
- Samanta Shoes
- ScholarPro Inc.
- Seeding Labs
- Sproxil
- StorageByMail
- Symmetric Computing
- ViThera Laboratories
- Zyrra
The Final Judges are able to award up to $1M in amounts of either $50K or $100K each.
Guidelines for judges include:
• Impact – is this a big idea with the potential to change the world?
• Scalability/sustainability – has the startup identified the optimal business model?
• Positioning – does the startup have the assets to compete and win in their market?
• Execution – has the team demonstrated they can execute against goals?
Congrats to the 26 teams moving forward and best of luck next week!