Katherine Olives
Last week, many of you voted for your favorite startups during a virtual Demo Day the Pre app, and also attended our virtual Final Pitch where you heard from startups competing in our four categories for top prizes. In all, CCNY startups collected $120,000 in prizes, which they'll use to further develop their businesses. We hope to share more news about these resilient teams in the future, but for now, here are the results of the 2021 Demo Day & Final Pitch:
the Zahn Social Impact Prize:
The 1st place prize of $25,000 was awarded to GoodMD, a web-based health platform that connects you with clinics who can provide the best care at the lowest price.
The 2nd place prize of $5,000 was awarded to Civic Monitor, A comprehensive data infrastructure for the issue positions and ideas of candidates, to enable African voters to know, compare and interact with their candidates for political office. Civic Monitor was also Awarded the Audience Choice Award, decided on the Pre App during Demo Week by our greater community.
the Standard Chartered Women+Tech Prize:
The 1st place prize of $25,000 was awarded to Skin Releaf, an online platform that provides persons of color access to dermatologists, skin experts,and education to help manage their skin health.
The 2nd place prize of $5,000 went to Nailerz, an online platform where licensed nail technicians or small businesses go to promote on-demand nail services to clientele within the area, and gives the user the ability to find a remote nail service tailored to their personal nail art design desires. Nailerz also took home the Audience Choice Award.
the Zahn Technology Prize:
The 1st place prize of $25,000 went to AlgoRythm, an educational app that is aiming to simplify computer science concepts for high school students. AlgoRythm also won the Audience Choice Award.
The $5,000 2nd place prize went to Fasfit, a fashion hub that promotes inclusivity and originality through networking and creative services.
the Kaylie Prize for Hardware:
The $25,000 1st place prize was awarded to Visual, a haptic feedback device to assist visually impaired individuals, navigating their surroundings. They also won the Audience Choice Award.
Vertibrave, a technological solution to have true affirmation of spinal surgical success through real-time tracking, won the $5,000 2nd place prize in this category.
We couldn't have had a successful Final Pitch without the help of our judging panel, including:
Zahn Social Impact Prize:
- Amrita Bhandari, Chief of Business Development, Acumen
- Shabnam Rezaei, Co-founder and President, Big Bad Boo Studios & Oznoz
- Peter Zahn, President, Futures Unbound
Standard Chartered Women+Tech Prize:
- Nydia Clayton, Principal, Deloitte
- Patty Fuster, Managing Director, Regional CIO Europe & Americas, Standard Chartered
- Acacia Lawrie, Investor, 37 Angels
Zahn Technology Prize:
- Erica Matsumoto, Director of Partnerships and New Initiatives, NYC Media Lab
- Steven Rodriguez, Regional Manager US/Canada, Techstars
- Adrienne Schmoeker, Advisor, Urban AI
Kaylie Prize for Hardware:
- Suma Reddy, CEO, Future Acres
- Shelby Thompson, Senior Community Manager, SecondMuse
- Andrew Wooten, Senior Director of Innovation Management, CCNY
We also want to thank our Demo Day judges, who decided our finalists on May 6th. Judges include:
Zahn Social Impact Prize:
- Esmeralda Herrera, Director of Programs and Community Relations, Communitas America
- Amer Jandali, Founder, Future Meets Present
- Cris Mercado, Founder & CEO, Grant Answers
Standard Chartered Women+Tech Prize:
- Jen Jones, Co-founder & Managing Editor, Women You Should Know
- Lona Vincent, Design Team, Business Model Innovation, Johnson & Johnson
- Matthew Washington, Deputy Borough President, Manhattan Borough President’s Office
Zahn Technology Prize:
- Anthony De La Rosa, Senior Program Manager, Uber
- Jonathan Hakakian, Managing Director, Soundboard Venture Fund
- Arber Ruci, Acting Director, CUNY Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Kaylie Prize for Hardware:
- Alessandro Ciari, Assistant Director, CUNY Center for Systems & Community Design
- Miles Flamenbaum, CEO, Actasys
- DB Lampman, Associate Director, Makerspace NYC
And of course, we'd like to say a big thank you to our major sponsors, Irwin Zahn, Standard Chartered, and the Kaylie family for their donations which ensure CCNY student entrepreneurs are able to advance their innovations and pursue their dreams.