Hey, guess what! We’re only three weeks out from our annual Tech Madness bracket reveal. Each year, the DC Inno team hosts a reader-driven bracket competition in the spirit of March Madness to drive awareness and excitement for the city’s ecosystem.
On March 6, we’ll unveil the official 2018 Tech Madness bracket at our reveal party at WeWork 80 M St SE.
Over the past few weeks, we asked our readers to submit nominations for consideration in this year’s bracket. Companies ranged in industry, growth stage and total funding. After receiving those nominations, we seed 64 private, local startups and businesses and put them head-to-head with you, our readers, voting to determine who will move on to the next matchup. It’s that simple.
DC Inno has been running this competition for a few years now, with last year’s bracket receiving a whopping 60,000 votes. So, this year, the team decided to shake things up a bit. In the past, we’ve selected 150 finalists — both private and public companies — and revealed who made the bracket at our event. This year, we’ve changed the program a bit. The companies below are definitely on our bracket, and we only pulled from private companies to even the playing field. At our reveal party, we’ll announce the seedings and match ups for round one.
Today, we’re announcing just 60 finalists. And yes, we do know that a bracket needs 64. This is intentional. Four spots have been left open to give those who didn’t make the list another shot at competing. At our reveal party on March 6, we’ll give a handful of companies an opportunity to pitch us, and an editorial team at the event will determine who will receive the last four spots.
Just like last year, DC Inno will seed the finalist companies below based on venture capital funding and other growth metrics for the bootstrapped companies listed. And an important note: Seeding isn’t an editorial judgment. We rely on funding because, well, that’s the most accessible and universal metric out there.
Finally, to determine the outcome for each matchup this year, readers will just have to answer one question — Who would you invest in? And we know that this can be interpreted in several different ways. Is this about who you think is a safer bet? Or who you think has a higher ceiling, despite the risk? Or is it about investing social capital and determining the product and mission that you’re more interested in or passionate about? The answer is “yes” to all. However you want to interpret that question is the right way.
So here it is, your 2018 Tech Madness Finalists List, in alphabetical order. Congrats to all and see you on March 6!
- Arcadia Power
- Aquicore
- Avizia
- ChurnZero
- Clarabridge
- Crowdskout
- Dcode
- Echo360
- Ellucian
- Event Nation
- EVERFI
- FiscalNote
- Framebridge
- FS Card
- Fugue
- Full Measure Education
- Homesnap
- HousePouch
- ICX Media
- ID.me
- ID Dataweb
- Interfolio
- Intermarkets, Inc.
- Kit Check
- Knowledge to Practice
- Legends of Learning
- Mapbox
- Measure
- MemoryWell
- MPOWER Financing
- Natural Insight
- OneWeb
- Optoro
- ParkMyCloud
- Phone2Action
- Pippadee
- Quorum Analytics
- Real Time Cases
- Remodelmate
- Research Innovations, Inc.
- RightEye
- Rooam
- Social Tables
- Solebrity
- Spoke
- Spotluck
- Storyblocks
- STYCKIE
- Surprise Ride
- TransitScreen
- Twenty Tables
- Upside Travel
- Upskill
- UrbanStems
- VEDA Data Solutions
- Verato
- Virgil Security, Inc.
- WeddingWire
- WythMe
- Xometry
Didn’t make the final list? Don’t worry, you still have a shot at being on this year’s bracket! Attend our Tech Madness bracket reveal party and tell us why your company deserves to be on the bracket for a chance to be selected for our four open spots. We will make the announcement of those four open spots at the event.
Bonus! We’re opening round one of voting at this year’s Tech Madness Bracket Reveal Party where 1 vote will count as 10 votes. Don’t miss out on getting the upper hand by maximizing your vote at the TM Party.
Thank you to our Tech Madness Sponsors. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email Conrad Paquette at cpaquette@americaninno.com
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
