Two minutes, 15 companies, three winners. Last night 15 Arizona startups competed and pitched to a room full of investors and entrepreneurs at the TiE AZ Fast Pitch Event to win a slot in the upcoming Venture Madness competition, where startups have the opportunity to win a piece of the $50,000 prize, and TiE AZ Venture Capital pitch event, where investors from around the Southwest come to fund Arizona companies. Winners from this event bypass the application process.
The three winners were Force Impact Technologies, EndoVantage and Primo IAS.
Force Impact Technologies, was the overall winner receiving a slot in Venture Madness as well as a place in the TiE AZ Venture Capital event. Force Impact developed FITGuard, a head-injury awareness mouthguard. When an athlete has a collision with another athlete or object, the mouthguard, via Bluetooth, will indicate the amount of force endured through a visual display and send the impact information to ones’ smartphone and their database. The product is designed for amateur athletes between 12-24 years old with a price point of under $100, and BPA-free.
I captured Force Impact Co-founder Bob Merriman’s first reactions to the win, and gave us an insight to what is next for their product FITGuard.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/nT4mxHlB_Kc[/youtube]
EndoVantage and Primo IAS will also receive a ticket to pitch at Venture Madness.
Read: EndoVantage wins at Innovation Challenge and $250K
Force Impact Technologies Co-Founder Anthony Gonzales showcases FITGuard at Disrupt-my interview with him
[youtube]http://youtu.be/CL2zKeT-9MU[/youtube]
Related: What is Venture Madness and how much can I win?
