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Eight Tampa companies vie for Startup of the Year

Margie Manning

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The 2018 Startup of the Year competition. Photo credit: Kanna via Twitter

Eight young technology companies from Tampa — plus three more with strong ties to the Tampa-St. Pete area — are among the 100 rising startups that will compete at the 7th annual for Startup of the Year global competition and summit.

The three-day event, sponsored by Established and Start Co., began last night and continues through Wednesday in Memphis. The program features curated matchmaking for founders, investors and corporate innovators, as well as a pitch competition with winners receiving up to $100,000 in investments.

There’s also a People’s Choice award, with online voting continuing through 11 p.m. CST Tuesday, Oct. 15. You can vote here.

Here are the local startups participating in the conference.

Employment, edtech, security, fintech category

Grifin. Buy one cup of coffee at Starbucks, invest $1 directly into Starbucks stock. This works at any publicly traded company; shop at a local store, $1 goes into a Grifin cash account, which can be used as a savings or as a fund with which to buy more shares of stock.

Professionals Credential Exchange. Professional Credentials Exchange facilitates the completely secure and reliable exchange of professional identity and credentials information through a 100 percent cloud-based platform.

Lifestyle & hospitality category

Fruutfull. Fruutfull has a patent-pending design that has simplified an overly complex bra sizing system, allowing their customers to create their own personal fit down to the exact centimeter.

Guestbox. GuestBox delivers thoughtfully curated welcome gifts to create one-of-a-kind customer experiences, helping distinctive brands drive exclusive engagement and serving as a distribution channel in the travel and hospitality industries.

Health, wellness, medtech, biotech, fitness category

Immertec. Immertec provides a proprietary, real-time VR software for medical device training and sales. Their software allows any physician in the world to instantly connect and train in VR.

SciX. SciX is a biotech IoT application development company that creates science-based and health-related mobile, wearable applications and devices for the healthcare industry.

Verapy. Using virtual reality technology, Verapy enhances patient experience through exercise games specifically designed to increase patient retention, while simultaneously improving operational efficiencies for physical and occupational therapy staff.

Productivity, logistics, advertising, legal category

180by2. 180byTwo delivers data-driven, audience solutions by bringing together technology, analytics, expertise, and strategy to help transform their clients marketing programs, providing them with tailored solutions that meet their unique business needs.

Also in this category are two companies that took part in the recently concluded Tampa Bay Wave Tech Diversity cohort.

InEvent, based in New York. InEvent is an all-in-one event management software. They help companies secure their data through an easy-to-use platform, cutting tech costs, saving operational time and enabling digital transformation for all events, travel and corporate training.

SafetyPin, based in Baltimore. Safety Pin’s digital trust badge gives users a way to take trust and safety into their own hands with a third-party, forward-facing solution that works on any app or platform. By increasing the level of trust online, they are helping people book more jobs when using on-demand apps.

A third company in Wave’s Tech Diversity program also is competing for Startup of the Year. NeuroFlow, based in Philadelphia, is a healthcare technology company that enables behavioral health access and engagement across the continuum of care. Combining validated techniques, evidence-based protocols, data science, and behavioral economics, they allow hundreds of clinics, health systems, and providers to objectively assess, track, and engage patients.

NOTE: This story was updated to include NeuroFlow since its original publication on Oct. 15.

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