Voting opens for Venture Madness top 64 startups

Time to break out the brackets for Venture Madness 2016! This event, brought to the Valley by Invest Southwest and Arizona Commerce Authority, is where the top 64 startups go head-to-head in a pitch competition and vie for a portion of the $100,000 prize and the chance to be crowned champion. The first elimination round begins tomorrow … Read more

ASU Fulton Engineer School launches Startup Center, holds Demo Day competition

Co-written with Chloe Nordquist Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools officially launched their Startup Center Thursday as a way to empower undergraduate and graduate students within the schools to explore entrepreneurial ideas. The Center will offer innovation courses, workshops, mentoring and other events. “We’ve positioned this competition to be at the top of the funnel in … Read more

What Valley tech companies are doing to keep engineers in AZ

Arizona’s high tech sector is on an incline with startup companies to corporations vying for software engineers to build out their products. According to the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, software and IT industry job growth is projected to increase 25 percent over the next decade, compared to 18 percent nationally, and in greater Phoenix the city has … Read more

Crowd engagement app wins jackpot at #ETY15

Arizona-based Crowd Mics won this year’s inaugural Event Technology of the Year in Las Vegas held by Event Manager Blog. Mobile app Crowd Mics turns smartphones into wireless microphones for live events by allowing the audience to talk into their phones and be heard over a sound system. This makes it possible for text commenting, … Read more

Medtech startup NeoLight to help babies with jaundice – interview with co-founders

Video Contribution by Xavier Smith Medtech startup Neolight, a device that helps treat jaundice in newborn babies, is continuing to gain speed and will soon be finalizing their product and sending it off for FDA approval. “Neolight is a phototherapy medical device that treats jaundice in newborns [versus] the technology used today [which is] LEDs or … Read more

Picmonic closes $2.3M round to expand student reach– interview with co-founders Adeel Yang & Ron Robertson

Instead of using Rote memorization methods to pound medical terms such as macrolides and bacteriostatic into ones’ head for finals, students are turning to Picmonic, a visual learning platform, where definitions, diseases and diagnoses are transformed into colorful, goofy and unforgettable pictures to create a personalized learning experience. Since they launched in 2011, the company has … Read more

CampusLogic closes $7.5 million Series A round led by Continental Investors

Video contribution by Xavier Smith Instead of mounds of application paperwork and the angst of waiting weeks and wondering if you will get financed for college, it will only take a few clicks. CampusLogic, the first student financial aid self-service platform, is moving the archaic method of applying for college money into a “mobile and … Read more

Four new startups join CEI incubator

Contributions by Chloe Nordquist Four Arizona biotechnology and medical device startups will be joining Phoenix-based Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI) business incubator. “We see enormous amounts of potential with each of these companies, which is validated by the fact that several have already gone through other incubation programs in the Valley,” CEI executive director Jeff … Read more

Buy your gameday tickets on-demand with a text

Football fans around the country will now have the ability to purchase game tickets through a text  using ReplyBuy. ReplyBuy is a mobile commerce platform that allows customers to purchase items through a text message. In October 2014, the company launched their sports and entertainment platform focused on ticket sales for professional and collegiate sports teams and have … Read more