Two of the world’s foremost incubators are partnering to identify Chicago’s most promising startups as part of global competition
WASHINGTON, D.C. AND CHICAGO, IL (September 23, 2014)— Startup incubators 1776 and 1871 today announced that Chicago will participate as a host city in Challenge Cup 2015, a global competition that spans 16 cities in 11 countries to identify the most promising startups with the best ideas to solve the world’s biggest challenges, on October 28.
“We’re thrilled to join with 1871 and bring the Challenge Cup to Chicago, a city that has already established itself as a worldwide hub for compelling startups that are working to tackle our biggest, most intractable problems,” said 1776 co-founder Donna Harris. “This competition will not only help Chicago’s most promising startups succeed, it will further connect the Windy City to a global movement of innovators interested in solving our biggest problems.”
Challenge Cup participants compete for $650,000 in prizes in four categories—education, energy, health, and cities—as well as the chance to connect with mentors, corporate partners, policymakers, and potential investors.
“1871 is tremendously excited to bring the Challenge Cup back to our hometown,” said 1871 CEO Howard Tullman. “Chicago is building companies and startups that are tackling major challenges and trying to solve real problems. Last year, the Challenge Cup was an extremely valuable opportunity for dozens of Chicago startups to exchange ideas, connect with mentors, and impress investors. This year, it’s going to be even bigger and better.”
Last year, the winner of the Challenge Cup’s “health” category and one of four finalists was 1871’s own CancerIQ, a startup that created a suite of applications that allow oncologists to better collect genetic information from cancer patients and identify high-risk patients for preventative treatment—greatly simplifying the practice of genomic medicine.
“It was a great experience for us,” said Feyi Olopade, CEO of CancerIQ. “We got exposure to a number of top officials in the administration and in the industry.We had the opportunity to cross-pollinate ideas and growth-hacking strategies that have been tried and tested. This was the first time we got to share our updated traction story with the world and with investors."
In addition to Chicago, Challenge Cup 2015 will take place at 15 other regional sites, including Washington D.C., Sydney, New York City, Tel Aviv, Amman, Santiago, Nairobi, Mumbai, Austin, Toronto, Boston, Berlin, Dublin, San Francisco, and China. Each city will produce four regional winners in each of the four categories, with 64 regional winners chosen to compete in 1776’s Challenge Festival in May, a weeklong event in Washington, D.C. that gives these startups an opportunity to pitch investors, connect to new mentors, meet with policymakers, and compete for prizes and funding.
Additional dates and judges for the Challenge Cup Competition will be announced in the coming weeks. To power Challenge Cup 2015, and ensure the best startups and venture partners have a seat at the table, 1776 has forged partnerships with NEA, the world’s largest venture capital firm, Revolution, the Case Foundation, Capital Factory, Rocketspace, Oasis 500, and many more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Candidates for the Challenge Cup competition are startups that are compelling, world changing, and highly scalable, and that aim to make tangible differences in people’s lives, not just build the hottest new app. Through Challenge Cup, entrepreneurs are not only connected to the investors and mentors they need to succeed, but corporations and policymakers in some of the world’s most entrenched industries and government entities are introduced to these innovators’ fresh ideas that have the potential to solve big, difficult challenges.
Last year’s inaugural Challenge Cup was enormously successful. Out of 5,000 applications, 480 startups competed in 16 cities in nine countries throughout the world. At Challenge Festival, out of the 64 startups that competed, eight startups were selected to receive funding from 1776 directly, several others received significant investment from other funds or partners, and 1776 set up more than 70 individual meetings between the startups and potential investors, corporate partners and policymakers .
This year, 1776 is taking the Challenge Cup to the next level by announcing ChallengeX, a feeder competition in which startup incubators around the world have the opportunity to host their own competitions, with the winners automatically entered as finalists into the nearest Challenge Cup regional competition. This means more cities, more startups, and more great ideas.Participating ChallengeX cities include Detroit, New Orleans, and Buenos Aires, with more locations to be announced at a later date.
“The Challenge Cup is the best platform out there for sharing innovative, world-changing ideas with the investors and mentors you need to be successful—and we’re absolutely thrilled to partner with 1871 to bring the competition to the Windy City,” said 1776 cofounder Evan Burfield. “And this year, the launch of ChallengeX, a new feeder competition, allows us to cast our net even wider, giving more startups the opportunity to present their ideas in front of mentors, judges and investors around the world.”
In addition to CancerIQ, winners from last year’s Challenge Cup are already enjoying remarkable success disrupting and innovating the world’s most entrenched industries, including:
ABOUT 1776
1776 is a global incubator and seed fund that finds promising startups focused on solving the world’s most fundamental challenges and helps engineer their success.
Just two years old, 1776 has helped more than 250 startups grow by vetting their viability and connecting them to a “swat team” of support, from investors to mentors, government officials, and institutional market partners that they need to succeed.
1776 focuses on startups in the most broken, entrenched industries and sectors that impact millions of lives every day – specifically education, energy, health and cities.
Because solving big challenges in entrenched industries requires a different approach, 1776 is revolutionizing the startup landscape. From its hub in Washington, D.C., it is sparking a global movement of “problem-solving’ startups through its Challenge Cup and Startup Federation, the premiere network of incubators throughout the world.
By creating a global community of startups, mentors, partners, and investors, 1776 is proving that its unique approach to incubation can create a sustained cycle of innovation that connects existing enterprises, corporations, and government entities to the startups that are solving the world’s biggest problems.
1776 was founded in February 2013 by Donna Harris, a serial entrepreneur and the former Managing Director of the Startup America Partnership, and Evan Burfield, founder of netDecide, a provider of enterprise wealth management solutions, and the consulting firm Synteractive.