Sixteen companies are in the hunt for $4.5 million in prize money that will be awarded by 43North on Wednesday.
But just like in the world of startups, nothing is guaranteed.
Only 10 of them will advance beyond a qualifying round on Tuesday, to compete onstage on Wednesday at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Of those 10 contenders, one will win the $1 million grand prize. Seven others will win prizes of $500,000 each. Two others won’t win any money. When it’s all over, only 1.5% of the 528 entrants in this year’s competition will claim prize money.
43North hopes the winners of the sixth edition of the business plan competition will choose to stay in Buffalo beyond their one-year requirement, while investing in their operations and adding jobs. Before the judges render their verdict, here is a look at the 16 companies that are pitching for prize money:
BridgeCare
Hometown: Seattle
Founder: Jamee Herbert
Description: The company is a workplace benefit administrator aimed at making daycare affordable for parents, through monthly payments made to BridgeCare. The company pitches its financing system as a way for parents to keep working and maximize their earning power, while keeping daycare costs within their financial means. Herbert, in a piece on LinkedIn, described her decision to leave her corporate-world job and start BridgeCare: “I saw a big problem with a simple solution: Get more capital to parents for the relatively short period of time they need it.”
Charmtech Labs
Hometown: Long Island
Founder: Yevgen Borodin
Description: Charmtech Labs was a 43North finalist last year and didn’t win any prize money. But that didn’t stop the company from moving its home base here from Long Island in September, citing “favorable business conditions and access to talent in Buffalo.” Charmtech makes a product called Capti, a literacy support tool that helps teachers provide a personalized learning approach for students. Capti is also designed to limit the number of apps schools need to manage. The company has hired two local people and has announced partnerships with Schoology and Google.
Circuit Clinical
Hometown: Buffalo
Founder: Irfan Khan
Description: The homegrown company’s patient platform, called TrialScout, enables patients to choose clinical research as a care option. The idea is that patients will be more likely to enroll and stay in studies if they go through their primary physicians. Khan, a Toronto native, founded the company in 2014, after working for many years as a cardiologist at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo. Circuit Clinical is based on Delaware Avenue and was a 43North semifinalist in 2016, under the name Empirican PRN.
Curiato
Hometown: Kitchener, Ont.
Co-founders: Moazam Khan and Zied Etleb
Description: The clinical stage data science company says its technology can help prevent bedsores. Its Ceylon Systems includes a “smart” mattress that detects pressure, temperature and humidity. The information is used to automatically relieve pressure in high-risk areas, and the data is stored for analysis. The company was launched in 2015 by University of Waterloo graduates.
Exit 7C
Hometown: Milwaukee
Founder: Blessing Egbon
Description: Exit 7C arranges onsite services, including oil changes, tire replacement and car washes, to fleets of vehicles through a mobile app. Among its services are bulk fleet fueling through loaner above-ground tanks or fuel delivery to equipment and vehicles. The company, founded in 2016, says it serviced 350,000 vehicles in 34 markets last year, generating $47 million in revenue. Exit 7C serves upstate markets including Buffalo.
Glaze Prosthetics
Hometown: Krakow, Poland
Founder: Piotr Sajdak
Description: Glaze will travel more than 4,000 miles from home to compete. The company allows amputees, including children, to choose the model, color and type of finish of their prosthetic arms. Glaze uses 3D printing technology, and Sajdak was the first user of Glaze’s system. “Glaze Prosthetics is doing incredible work in the healthcare industry to enable people with missing upper limbs to express their creativity and personality through their prostheses,” said Ramon Pastor, vice president and general manager of HP’s 3D printing business, in a Plastics Technology story about Glaze.
GroupRaise
Hometown: Houston
Founder: Devin Baptiste
Description: An online system that allows restaurants to book dinners for big groups at participating restaurants, which in turn donate a share of the profits to a designated nonprofit. In an interview with Mixergy earlier this year, Baptiste said his company was generating $1 million in revenue per month. He also said the system had built a network of 10,000 restaurants, and his goal was to reach 150,000 globally. Sean Park, head of marketing, described the concept to the Daily Vidette in Illinois this way: “Restaurants have these time blocks where they don’t have that many customers and they can now utilize these time blocks to invite a group of people.”
HotelsByDay
Hometown: New York City
Founder: Yannis Moati
Description: The booking site allows customers to book hotel rooms for just a few daytime hours to work or rest, generally between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., without paying for an overnight stay. The startup appeared on the TV show “Shark Tank” in early 2017, seeking $750,000 in investment in exchange for a 10% stake in the business. The celebrity investors passed on the offer, but HotelsByDay reported that just appearing on the show boosted its traffic and sales. “The credibility of being on the show alone, is worth it,” Moati said in a company statement about the experience. “We could never pay for the amount of visibility we received.”
Peanut Butter
Hometown: Chicago
Founder: David Aronson
Description: Peanut Butter helps client companies offer student loan assistance as a benefit, as a way to attract and retain employees in a tight job market. A participating company contributes a certain amount of money per month toward paying off an employee’s student loan debts. The Des Moines Register reported this year that Clinton County, Iowa, was contracting with Peanut Butter to help new residents pay down their student loan debt. In interviews, Aronson has said the company’s unusual name comes from “benefits employees will stick around for.”
PocketSuite
Hometown: San Francisco
Founder: Chinwe Onyeagoro
Description: PocketSuite provides mobile-based booking, payment and client management tools for “solopreneurs,” or entrepreneurs who work alone. The objective is to ensure multitasking entrepreneurs stay organized and get paid on time. PocketSuite says it has more than 4,200 users and $80 million in annualized payment volume, and says it does for solopreneurs what Shopify does for ecommerce. Onyeagoro is also an adviser to the CEO of Great Place to Work, an organization that promotes better workplace culture.
Public Goods
Hometown: New York City
Founder: Morgan Hirsh
Description: The company focuses on selling products it describes as healthy, sustainable and easy to access, using a membership business model to connect with customers. Some examples of what’s available: sugar cane bottles and tree-free paper napkins. The site sells everything from shampoo and vitamins to towels and food products. Business Insider reported in May that Public Goods had raised $6 million from seed round investments.
Rally
Hometown: New York City
Founder: Numaan Akram
Description: Rally allows people who are traveling to a common destination – a sporting event, a concert or festival – to book rides on luxury motorcoaches. Riders can choose from trips that are already set up, or they can set up their own trips. Rally said it has transported hundreds of thousands of people to events and destinations across North America since its launch. Last year, the company announced a partnership with Pegula Sports and Entertainment for trips to Buffalo Bills home games.
RankScience
Hometown: San Francisco
Founder: Ryan Bednar
Description: In technical terms, RankScience calls itself a search engine optimization automation platform. In plain terms, the company says it aims to help businesses and organizations grow their online presence and website traffic. RankScience says its software uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to help marketers gain an advantage. A year ago, RankScience closed a round of $1.8 million in seed funding.
Robodub
Hometown: Seattle
Founder: Parminder Devsi
Description: Robodub builds multi-rotor drones, whose rotor position can be changed autonomously to adapt to challenging circumstances. If one of the drone’s rotors fails due to harsh weather or in hostile flying conditions, the remaining three arms move into position to maintain flight. Its technology is also capable of delivering multiple packages in a single flight. The company identifies the Army, Navy and Air Force as among its customers.
Strayos
Hometown: St. Louis
Founder: Ravi Sahu
Description: Strayos serves the mining and infrastructure industry. The company uses drones to collect imagery data about what’s below the surface and creates computer models to help customers make decisions at job sites. The company says its technology and data promote safety and efficiency for drilling and excavation. In a story that Sahu wrote for Entrepreneur last year, he described how he encourages heavy-industry business leaders to embrace technology: “I gain the respect of the mining engineers and executives I meet with by talking about how my software ties into their industry; I strive to be seen as someone who might actually be able to solve their problem.”
Whose Your Landlord
Hometown: New York City
Founder: Ofo Ezeugwu
Description: Whose Your Landlord focuses on the rental housing market. Renters can read landlord reviews, and landlords can track reviews – and the reputation they are developing for their properties online. Ezeugwu got the idea for the business while he was a student at Temple University, according to an interview published on the university’s website. The company says it chose the possessive “whose” for its name, to emphasize it gives renters ownership of their situation.