Undergraduate Biz PICCPerfect Among #Beantown Throwdown Participants
PICCPerfect
Babson undergraduate business PICCPerfect is among the startups from many of Boston-metro’s top public and private colleges and universities gathering for the third annual #BeantownThrowdown pitch competition on Friday, October 9th at District Hall.
A celebration of the region’s internationally recognized community of student entrepreneurs, the competition will be featured during HUBweek, a week-long, city-wide festival celebrating ideas and innovation in the Boston area hosted by MIT, Harvard University, The Boston Globe and Mass General Hospital.
Organized by the MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) of Cambridge Innovation Series, the #BeantownThrowdown features teams from Babson College, Berklee College of Music, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, MIT, Northeastern University, UMass Lowell and Wentworth Institute of Technology, with each pitching their startups to the audience:
- PICCPerfect, stylish medical products for people with chronic illnesses—Babson College
- Bandpass, audience-controlled lighting and visuals—Berklee College of Music
- Cogitr, an app that connects students and tutors—Boston College
- Sub It, facilitates subletting for university students—Boston University
- DoneGood, an app that makes it easy for you to find businesses you know you can feel good about supporting—Harvard University
- Intentiv Robotics, a drone cinematography system to execute complex aerial shots—MIT
- Knightly, a mobile safety network connecting college students and campus police—Northeastern University
- Hive Labs, dedicated to the improvement and evolution of higher and secondary education through state of the art classroom management and collaboration technology—UMass Lowell
- BARS, high quality therapy devices at affordable prices—Wentworth Institute of Technology
Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe Innovation Economy columnist, co-founder of Innovation Leader and a co-founder/curator of top events such as the Nantucket Conference and #Unpitch, will kick off the evening by moderating a fireside chat about startups and innovation. Featured panelists will include:
- Katie Rae: Managing director of Project 11, co-founder and chairman of Start-up Institute and chairman of Techstars Boston;
- Tom Coburn: CEO of venture-backed marketing technology company, Jebbit, that earlier this year secured additional funding and moved into expanded offices to accommodate its next stage of growth;
- Dip Patel: CEO of Ecovent Systems, the company that makes homeowners comfortable with the only complete room-by-room temperature control system. Ecovent won the inaugural #BeantownThrowdown competition in 2013 and closed a $6.9 million Series A round in July, led by Emerson Climate Technologies.
Following the team presentations, the audience of 225+ crowd of public and private tech company executives, angel and venture investors, members of the media, top service providers, students and others will determine the winners by serving as “VCs for the Evening” – each investing $1 million of MITEF Money in the startups they believe best positioned for success.
Last year’s winner, Downtyme from Boston University, launched its social-scheduling app this spring – driving more than 750 downloads in the first week and going on to pitch at SXSW and other high visibility.
“We are lucky to have the next generation of big-thinking entrepreneurs right here in the greater Boston area,” said Katja Wald, executive director, MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. “The #BeantownThrowdown is a stage for these students to showcase their ideas, meet one another and network with dozens of the most influential players in the region’s innovation ecosystem. All of this fuels their ability to turn their startup dreams into reality.”
Prior to the competition, each team will receive pitch coaching from Linda Plano of Plano & Simple, who has assisted hundreds of companies raise hundreds of millions in funding. CHEN PR and Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton, PC are teaming with the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge to host the event. Registration and a pizza reception begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the opening panel at 6 p.m. This event will sell out, so preregistration is strongly encouraged.
MITEF Cambridge Beantown Throwdown
Friday, October 9
5:30pm – 8:00pm
District Hall, 75 Northern Avenue, Boston