Out of 14 startups competing for $500,000 in equity-free investment from MassChallenge Texas in Austin, five startups emerged on top last night at the accelerator’s awards ceremony.
Here are the five startups, their concepts, and how much they won:
- TRAXyL — $150,000: TRAXyL reduces the cost of setting up data connectivity by painting optical fiber directly onto road surfaces and sealing it with a special coating. This method reduces installation costs by anywhere from 30 to 90 percent, the company said, because workers don’t have to dig into the ground to lay cable.
- Collective Liberty — $100,000: Collective Liberty works to reduce sex trafficking by collaborating with professionals across industries and strategically engaging community leaders and the media.
- Men’s Gold Boxx — $100,00: Men’s Gold Boxx applies cutting-edge e-commerce concepts to men’s “big and tall” sizes. Shoppers create profiles to view personalized sizes and recommendations and can sign up for subscription boxes tailored to their tastes.
- teleCalm — $100,000: teleCalm protects elderly people with dementia or Alzheimer’s from phone scams and telemarketers, reducing stress for them and their caregivers.
- Olifant Medical — $50,000: Olifant’s founder innovated a faster, safer way for healthcare providers to insert breathing tubes during high-stress situations.
The awards ceremony included keynotes from Sara Brand and whurley. Brand is the founding partner of True Wealth Ventures, which makes early-stage investments in woman-owned startups, and whurley is a serial entrepreneur and technologist who founded Chaotic Moon Studios, Honest Dollar and Strangeworks.
