On Wednesday, June 28, at the Hotel Henry, 24 “best and brightest” companies will be vying for top prizes. The event, University at Buffalo’s Bright Buffalo Niagara Entrepreneur Expo, is currently in its ninth year running. It is designed to promote economic growth in the region, by providing financial boosts to top regional (including NY State and Ontario) contenders.
As for the competition, the top five companies will be making five-minute pitches to a panel of judges, to showcase their plans and abilities. After that, there will be a five-minute Q&A round. The winner will receive:
- $20,000 grand prize
- An automatic pass into the 43North semifinal round
- Complementary acceptance into the Critical Path Life Sciences Accelerator Program (for life sciences companies only)
- An opportunity to pitch at an upcoming Upstate Venture Association of New York (UVANY) event
The six companies are:
- GapGrid, Buffalo
- HigherMe, Buffalo
- NanoHydroChem, Amherst
- Rachel’s Remedies, Buffalo
- WeDidIt, New York City
The remaining 19 companies will make 90-second pitched for the opportunity to win the $5,000 People’s Choice Award, voted on live by the audience:
- Bestest, Amherst
- ClearView Social, Buffalo
- DashMetrics, Saratoga Springs
- EagleHawk One LLC, Buffalo
- FHMatch, Toronto, Ontario
- Hipshark LLC (DBA Simple Fund), Williamsville
- House At Work, Rochester
- Midguard Medical, Buffalo
- Nidus Biosciences, Rochester
- Omantec, New York City
- OpenBottle, Buffalo
- Pathovax, Boston, Massachusetts, and Buffalo
- Reactive Dynamics, Buffalo
- RepHike, Buffalo
- SkyTubeLive, Utica
- Smart Walls Construction, Amherst
- Sonioptix, Amherst
- Storillo, New York City
- TimberFish Technology, Westfield
Tickets are available now at brightbuffaloniagara.com.
Bright Buffalo Niagara 2017 is sponsored by Viaduct, Hotel Henry, Upstate Venture Connect, Western New York Incubator Network, Invest Buffalo Niagara, Colligan Law, Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman, Buffalo Business First, 43North, Western New York Venture Association, NYSTAR, National Grid, Visit Buffalo Niagara, Crowley Webb, Leadership Buffalo, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, UVANY, Z80 Labs, Print2Web, Harter Secrest & Emery, KATZ Americas, Empire Genomics, Insyte Consulting, MedTech, Launch NY, Athenex and Thermo Fisher.
