Katherine Olives
We're still in a flurry from yesterday's excitement at Demo Day! Hundreds of students, faculty, and community members came out to support CCNY startups by voting for their favorites and discovering new causes to get behind, testing out new apps, playing with prototypes, and learning how technology innovations can make our city a better place. Our CCNY entrepreneurs were hoarse from sharing their ideas with the audience, and reciting their elevator pitches all afternoon!
While the fun was happening outside, our expert panel of judges carefully deliberated inside. By the end of the day, they'd decide the top two startups in each category to move on to the Final Pitch. As you've heard, the startups on display at Demo Day were part of the 2017 Zahn Innovation Center Competition cohort. They've been developing their ideas in a Lean Startup Bootcamp for the past semester, and yesterday's Demo Day marked the first of two events that will determine which teams win prize money totaling $150,000.
The pressure was on. After much deliberation, the judges selected two teams from each of the four categories – Kaylie Hardware, Zahn Social Impact, Standard Chartered Women+Tech4NYC, and Zahn Technology tracks. These 8 finalist teams will pitch again in front of a select audience tomorrow, May 3rd at 6pm.
Our 8 finalists are€¦
Kaylie Hardware
Active Hands – A tracking device that assesses the movements of people with cerebral palsy and other neurological diseases.
SnapPitch – An electronic baseball strikezone designed to improve pitching performance through data-driven progress tracking.
Zahn Social Impact
dawaCare – A patient engagement service focusing on follow-up care in developing nations.
SyStem – A computer garden that grows food without soil or harmful chemicals.
Standard Chartered Women+Tech4NYC
City LABscape – Hands-on indoor agriculture-based STEM education.
Enrich – A website/app to help parents seamlessly find and rate after school programs for children.
Zahn Technology
Cyqlo – Cyqlo is a mobile guide for cyclists that provides them with the most convenient way to get around and explore, while ensuring their safety and comfort.
Wrkbook – A platform that instantly connects contractors to skilled laborers.
To support your team and find out who takes home the grand prizes, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@ZahnCenterNYC) on the evening of May 3rd. Well go backstage with the startups, and announce the winners by the end of the night. We'll also announce the winners that YOU selected for the Audience Choice Award, and the startups who will continue on in our Accelerator Program!
If you missed the action at Demo Day, you can catch up on our Facebook page–we recorded some of it live!