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MassChallenge Boston Awards $1.5M in Zero-Equity Prizes to Top Startups

The seventh-annual MassChallenge Boston Awards brought together more than 1,500 leaders and supporters from the Boston entrepreneurial community to celebrate the MassChallenge entrepreneurs at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The night also featured a showcase of the 128-startup cohort, on-stage pitches from the top 26 companies, and speeches from Governor Charlie Baker and Chobani Founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, who keynoted the event.

Im so proud to announce this years winning startups, which have leveraged our global network of resources, mentors, partners, and more to truly change the world, said Scott Bailey, Managing Director of MassChallenge Boston. Tonight is not only a celebration of them, but of all of our startups and key players across the ecosystem who have made a commitment to work together in order to create enormous impact.

MassChallenge also celebrated passing a milestone of accelerating over 1,000 alumni, bringing the total to 1,211. In total, these 1,211 startups have raised over $1.8 billion in funding, generated over $700 million in revenue, and created 60,000 direct and indirect jobs. Notable alumni include Gingko Bioworks (Boston, 2010), Handy (Boston, 2012), Localytics (Boston, 2010), Cambridge Bioaugmentation Systems (UK, 2015), and Turo (Boston, 2010).

We have come a long way since 2010 when we ran our first accelerator in Boston, said John Harthorne, Founder and CEO of MassChallenge. We now have accelerators in five countries and growing, and have helped accelerate over 1,200 startups. They are truly making an impact on the world addressing some of the worlds biggest problems through innovation and creating jobs of the future. This is only the beginning and Im excited to watch what our alumni continue to accomplish in the years to come.

The MassChallenge Boston Awards marks the end of a high-growth year in Boston. In addition to welcoming the 128-startup cohort in June (from more than 1,700 applications — our most competitive to date), MassChallenge also launched two new initiatives with the support of its generous partners. PULSE@MassChallenge brings a startup-friendly approach to accelerating digital health innovations, while the Newton Innovation Center offers a community-driven collaborative workspace to catalyze a global startup renaissance, starting on a local scale.

MassChallenge also saw continued growth for MADE@MassChallenge, its startup-friendly R&D lab. Since launching in 2015, MADE@MassChallenge has helped 64 startups from the Boston accelerator bring their ideas to life for zero equity, including 33% of this years cohort.

$100K Diamond Winners

Adhesys Medical
USA – Texas | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Next generation surgical glues based on polyurethane: Fast, strong flexible and biodegradable it can be used in unprecedented surgeries
http://www.adhesys-medical.com/

EYL
Korea | High Tech
Secures Internet of Things with an affordable micro quantum random number generator using radioisotope to replace less secure software.
http://www.eylpartners.com/

TellusLabs
USA – Massachusetts | General
Applied science company that turns satellite imagery and other Earth data into the basis for better decisions.
http://www.telluslabs.com/

$75K Platinum Winners

Analytical Space
USA – Massachusetts | General
In-orbit data relay service that enables satellite operators to increase data throughput at a lower cost per GB with no hardware changes.
http://www.analyticalspace.com/

TapLink
USA – Massachusetts | High Tech
TapLink’s technology, called “blind hashing” is a completely new way to secure passwords, and protect customer data.
http://taplink.co/

$50K Gold Winners

3DFortify
USA – Massachusetts | High Tech
Materials company that uses patented magnetic alignment technology to create the most complex composites to date.
http://www.3dfortify.com/

BeautyLynk
USA – Massachusetts | High Tech
Software solution company for the beauty industry.
http://beautylynk.com/

BrainRobotics
USA – Massachusetts | Healthcare/Life Sciences
With brainwave controlled robotic prosthesis, BrainRobotics brings the control back to you and empowers you to live life to the fullest.
http://www.brainco.tech/#/

CoolComposites
USA – Massachusetts | Energy/Clean Tech
Uses materials chemistry to make buildings more energy efficient without making them more expensive.
http://www.coolcomposites.com/

Joulez
USA – Massachusetts | Social Impact
Joulez fuses arts and crafts with electronics to create fun and educational gadgets that inspire girls to get excited about STEM.
http://www.joulez.co/

RateGravity
USA – Massachusetts | High Tech
Redefineshow consumers finance their homes and delivers lower rates to borrowers through its network of local lenders.
http://rategravity.com/

Tranquilo, LLC
USA – Massachusetts | General
Portable soothing mat that calms crying babies in seconds by mimicking the sounds and motions of the womb.
http://www.tranquilomat.com/

Sea Machines Robotics
USA – Massachusetts | High Tech
Developing Autonomous Control & Navigation Systems for marine vessels.
http://www.sea-machines.com/

Signature Orthodontics
USA – Massachusetts | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Uses next generation technology to unlock your unique “Signature Smile” faster and more esthetically than current methods.

Tembo Education
USA – Florida | Social Impact
Created a Home Educator network using mobile phones to educate children ages 6 and younger living in slums.
http://www.temboeducationgroup.com/

Whole Heart Provisions
USA – Massachusetts | General
Fast-casual, plant-based culinary startup serving delicious, fast, and environmentally conscious food.
http://www.wholeheartprovisions.com/

In-Kind Silver Winners

AR Spirit
USA – Massachusetts | High Tech
Brings imagination into real life with a full 3D augmented reality platform via your mobile phone.
http://www.arspirit.com/

Battery Resourcers, LLC
USA – Massachusetts | Energy/Clean Tech
Recycles spent li-ion battery to directly synthesize new cathode materials, which can be used in new batteries.
http://www.batteryresourcers.com/

Coeo Labs Private Limited
India | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Medical device company solving unmet clinical needs in emergency and critical care through device interventions.
http://www.coeo.in/

Electra Vehicles, Inc.
USA – Massachusetts | Energy/Clean Tech
Planning to bring the electric vehicle market to the next level with innovative power solutions.
http://www.electravehicles.com/

Farmer Willies Alcoholic Ginger Beer
USA – Massachusetts | General
Ginger with soul. Their all natural recipe is the best ginger beer you will ever find.
http://www.thefarmerwillies.com/

Luminopia
USA – Massachusetts | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Uses emerging, proprietary virtual reality technology to enhance vision, treat visual disorders, and improve quality of life.
http://luminopia.com/

Neuromotion
USA – Massachusetts | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Digital mental health through mobile bioresponsive videogames.
http://www.neuromotion-labs.com/

Polis
USA – Massachusetts | High Tech
Door-to-door outreach software for solar companies, home improvement groups, cable companies, non-profits and political organizations.
http://www.polisapp.com/

QSM Diagnostics
USA – Massachusetts | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Uses a proprietary instrument-sensor to identify common infectious bacteria in bodily fluids within one minute at the point-of-care.
http://www.qsmdiagnostics.com/

Solstice
USA – Massachusetts | Social Impact
Grows the market for clean energy by providing community-shared solar power to Americans that cannot install it on their own roof.
http://solstice.us/

CASIS-Boeing Prize for Technology in Space
($500,000 total allocation to be based on project proposals):

Angiex, Inc.
USA – Massachusetts | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Pioneering a vascular therapy for solid tumors. In preclinical studies, an Angiex antibody-drug conjugate regressed solid tumors.
http://www.angiex.com/

Dover Lifesciences
USA – Massachusetts | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Creating new drugs to treat metabolic and cardiovascular diseases by mimicking favorable genotypes/phenotypes in nature.
http://www.doverlifesciences.com/

LambdaVision, Inc.
USA – Connecticut | Healthcare/Life Sciences
Developing a protein-based retinal implant to restore vision to the millions blinded by retinal degenerative diseases.
http://www.lambdavision.com/

About MassChallenge:
MassChallenge is the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. No equity and not-for-profit, we are obsessed with helping entrepreneurs across any industry. We also reward the highest-impact startups through a competition to win a portion of several million dollars in equity-free cash awards. Through our global network of accelerators in Boston, the UK, Israel, Switzerland, and Mexico, and unrivaled access to our corporate partners, we can have a massive impact – driving growth and creating value the world over. To date, 1,211 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $1.8 billion in funding, generated over $700 million in revenue, and created more than 60,000 direct and indirect jobs. For more information, please visit masschallenge.org.

Top MassChallenge Boston Partners:
Fidelity Investments, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Microsoft, Bose, CASIS, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Deshpande Foundation, John Hancock, Jamestown, The Boston Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, American Airlines, L’Oreal, Swiss Re, PepsiCo, Boehringer Ingelheim, EMC, Henkel, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Vertex, Draper, PTC, MassMutual, Pfizer, John Hancock, CVS Health, Analog Devices, Autodesk, and Honda.