HATCH Pitch Startup Competition Announces SXSW Finalists

Houston, TX (PRWEB) February 14, 2014

A handful of startups now have four minutes to win it. HATCH pitch, the revolutionary startup pitch competition, announced today the finalists for its upcoming March 10 event at SXSW Interactive Startup Village.

Applications were received from early stage tech startups in 14 countries and 17 US states. Finalists were selected based on a range of criteria including how revolutionary the idea is, how the company is making life better, what’s great about the startup founders and team, and how scalable and sustainable their product is. Each participant will present their business plan to a panel of corporate, angel, and venture investor judges in front of a well-connected audience at SXSW Interactive on March 10, 2014.

“We are overwhelmed by the quality and diversity of the startups who applied,” said Greg Wright, HATCH pitch founder. “I am excited to see the impact these young companies will have on their respective industries.”

The 2014 HATCH pitch SXSW finalists are:

Bit6 – With just a few lines of code, Bit6 lets developers add communication capabilities to any app.

bop.fm – Creates a home for every song on the internet and lets you easily share it with anyone.

BRCK – It’s the easiest, most reliable way to connect to the Internet, for people and things.

ePatientFinder – Empowers physicians to connect patients with tomorrow’s treatments today.

idealAsset – The match.com for innovation and intellectual property.

Neural Analytics – Simplifying brain injury diagnosis using healthcare informatics.

Ranku – Search engine for 100% online degrees from traditional universities. Kayak 4 degrees.

Seratis – Makes team transparency and healthcare coordination easy. Find out who else is looking after your patient and send secure messages.

SmartestK12 – Make your classwork and homework assignments smarter with SmartestK12.

SupaPass – Musician’s subscription fanclub: SupaFans fund new music for special access to favorite bands.

Virtuix – Virtuix Omni Fully Immersive Gaming Platform.

YouEarnedIt – A simple, fun, and flexible way to recognize your people and foster happiness at work.

The selected companies will each have four minutes to pitch their revolutionary startup before fielding questions from the judges, including Nicole Glaros (Managing Director Techstars NY), Rahul Sood (General Manager, Microsoft Ventures), John Frankel (Partner, ff Venture Capital), Kerry Rupp (CEO, DreamIt Ventures), Blair Garrou (Co-founder and Managing Director, Mercury Fund), Balaji Gopinath (VP of Emerging Technology, Turner Broadcasting/Media Camp), Rick Pleczko (Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Austin Ventures), Unity Stoakes (President and co-founder, StartUp Health), Neal Murthy (Managing Director, Indalo Solutions), Rami Essaid (CEO and Co-Founder, Distil Networks and HATCH pitch 2012 winner), and MC Missy Krasner (Exec in Residence at Canvas Venture Fund).

For those who did not make it to the finals, HATCH pitch and Qukku have partnered to host the “Are you HATCH-worthy?” crowd-voted video contest. Winning videos will be played at the HATCH pitch event. In a one-minute video, contestants should present their company and vision in a fun and entertaining way. This contest is open to any early-stage startups. For more details and to apply, visit Qukku (http://qukku.com/contests/AreyouHATCH-worthy93). Contest submissions and voting end on March 3.

HATCH pitch is open to all SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badgeholders.

About HATCH pitch

HATCH pitch is the revolutionary pitch competition for tech startup companies making life better. Playing to capacity audiences at SXSW in Austin the past two years, HATCH pitch returns to SXSW Interactive on March 10, 2014. Previous winners Distil Networks, RideScout, and Realty Mogul have garnered phenomenal attention from the press and investment communities. Distil received a $ 1.8 million seed investment from a HATCH pitch judge after winning HATCH pitch 2012. To learn more go to http://www.hatchpitch.com or connect with us on twitter @HATCHPITCH and Facebook at facebook.com/HatchPitch.

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