Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the JD Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at York College recently announced the winners of the first TechCelerator pitch competition. The pitch competition was the finale for seven teams that participated in an intensive 10-week startup boot camp offered by the Ben Franklin Technology Partners. The $10,000 prize pool was sponsored by York Traditions Bank, a York-based community bank focused on small businesses.
The winners, Rahad Khan and Ben Salazar, co-founders of Lotus Media, developing a cross-platform music sharing app, took home a cash prize of $8,000. A $2,000 second prize was awarded to Thomas Almanza, the founder of Rent-A-Hand, developing a mobile app to connect homeowners with helpers to work around the house. Prizes were awarded by a panel of three judges. The panel consisted of state Rep. Kristin Phillips-Hill; Patti Stirk, president and CEO of Small Star Art House; and Mark Zeleznock, CEO of Dataforma Inc.
In addition to the winners, others who made presentations include B.E.A.S.T. Initiative P.U.S.H. (LaQuinn Thompson, Mya Awkward, and Raheem McCrary), which proposes to develop a tech-based youth program in urban communities, where youths can learn and experience business and technology systems through the e-sports industry; BeSpokify.Me (Jacqueline Hart), which is planning a Techno-Fashion Platform which integrates 3-D avatars and design technologies to provide customers personalized sizing data shared with designer/garment manufactures for perfectly fitted clothing; Jester Sedano's Pockettrip (Gianfranco Celario Sedano), which is creating an interactive, educational app to provide event organizers and participants harm reduction information associated with the consumption of alcohol and drugs; Library on Demand (Lennon Mazonde), which provides small- to medium-size libraries an affordable, easy to set up, open source library management system via a web-based platform to increase the accessibility and organization of books and e-books in underserved communities; and Muragai/Guidepost (Correll French), which will create a customizable, pre-built website, app, and management platform for the founders and staffers of Village Organizations, alternative communities for seniors living independently.
To learn more, readers may visit http://www.cnp.benfranklin.org.
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