Change and Spark: CorpStarter Brings VR Technology and Hot Air Balloon to Its Annual Venture Contest
NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2016 -- The CorpStarter North America Venture Contest presented the Fourth Annual CorpStarter Star Show at Microsoft's flagship store in Midtown New York on Aug 18th, which featured presentations by five companies in FinTech, digital marketing, digital therapeutic, and agriculture industries. Sue Googe, 2016 Republican Congressional Candidate and a successful real estate entrepreneur, greeted the audience and shared her entrepreneurship stories. Investor targeting analytics platform Valuation Metrics took home the trophy.
Lijie Zhu, Managing Director at CorpStarter's organizer Dragon Gate Investment Partners, and Michael Callan, Senior Business Sales Leader at Microsoft, welcomed the audience as opening remarks.
"We are thrilled to see our growing CorpStarter community is joined by the most talented entrepreneurs and the best companies like Microsoft," said Lijie Zhu, " Change and Spark is our theme of the year, and with faith and passion in mind, we are all ready to be the change to spark."
Microsoft is CorpStarter's venue sponsor this year, giving the audience first-hand VR/AR experience.
Sue Googe and Barry Sine, Managing Director at Drexel Hamilton, gave keynote speeches.
Two panel discussions followed, featuring trending topics How to Embrace the "Fintech" Revolution and Spot and Capitalize on Trends.
Panelists, judges, and investors included Qiang Fan, President of Silicon Valley US-China Startup Prosperity for Technology and Innovation, Chiu-Ti Jansen, Founder of CHINA HAPPENINGSTM, Carl Dan Killian, Jr., President of Harvard Investors Group, and Sanford Wollman, Co-Founder of Westchester Angels.
As a part of CorpStarter's annual events, CorpStarter North America Venture Contest was co-organized by Dragon Gate Investment Partners and Chinese Association for Science and Business. What wraps up the annual events is a Hot Air Balloon Pitch Event on August 20th. Entrepreneurs will be sent up to 2000 feet height by hot-air balloons and pitch investors while flying with them during the one-hour balloon ride.
WINNERS
First Place
Valuation Metrics is a leading provider of investor targeting analytics. Our web-based SaaS platform provides insights that enable clients to efficiently and effectively target investors and to enhance shareholder value. Our flagship product quickly and comprehensively analyzes investor behavior, accurately predicts which institutions will buy a company's equity and explains why they will do so.
Second Place
Ogg Trading, LLC is committed to providing deeply liquid, highly sophisticated, best of breed trading solutions and capabilities for institutional foreign exchange clients. Fueled by the highest quantitative capabilities, the company will facilitate our client's ability to achieve best execution standards by deploying the most useful, state of the art trading software available in the marketplace. Our clients will enjoy a significant advantage over their competitors in executing their trades.
Third Place
everyStory is a technology platform that streamlines the creation of personalized digital stories with the goal of being the first company to successfully deliver Reminiscence Therapy (RT) as a Digital Therapeutic. RT is a proven treatment to reduce anxiety and improve overall quality of life in patients with Alzheimer's and Dementia (ADOD) but RT is presently not scalable. The company is working with a major US university to run a clinical trial showing that everyStory is an effective delivery of Reminiscence Therapy for anxiety reduction and improved quality of life in a digital manner.
Finalists
IMG Media offers the newest and the most effective tool in the era of WeChat Marketing by introducing the WeChat media kiosks. While enhancing the sales performance through the FREE DIY photo printing features, the WeChat media kiosks are also effectively being used as an additional marketing tool to help American brands building immediate connections with the growing Chinese consumers in the U.S. The IMG Media also creates an innovative way to attract customers and crowds into database via WeChat public accounts for future sales and marketing purposes.
VertaHerb utilizes efficient and sustainable indoor hydroponic growing systems to grow fruits, herbs and vegetables pesticide and chemical free, and in high volume year-round. Mass market food and herb retailers benefit from year-round production, reduced weather risk, and lower transportation costs. VertaHerb will also provide quality herbs for use in nutrition supplements, cosmetics, and essential oils.
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Other Press Coverages:
US China Press： 中美创业团队 阔伯新星大赛比拼
Singtao： 阔伯新星创业大赛 三初创公司获奖
World Journal： 阔伯新星大赛 初创企业华山论剑
Yahoo Finance ： Change and Spark: CorpStarter Brings VR Technology and Hot Air Balloon to Its Annual Venture Contest
The Street： Change and Spark: CorpStarter Brings VR Technology and Hot Air Balloon to Its Annual Venture Contest
Market Watch： Change and Spark: CorpStarter Brings VR Technology and Hot Air Balloon to Its Annual Venture Contest