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The ten finalists for the upcoming Apex Challenge have practiced their pitches in front of mirrors and friends. Now it’s time for them to take the stage in front of about 1,000 people to compete for cash prizes totaling $20,000.
The Apex Challenge is a pitch competition on Sept. 11 that’s part of the Colorado Technology Association’s Apex Conference. Organizers are billing the event as “half American Idol and half pitch contest.” Admission is included with an Apex Conference pass, and the CTA is offering a limited number of free tickets.
The winners will be determined by the audience and a panel of judges that include Brian Wallace, a managing director of Access Venture Partners, Catharine Merigold, a general partner at Vista Ventures, and former Denver Broncos placekicker David Treadwell.
Some of the finalists are have become successful regulars on the local and national pitch competition circuit.
Rach.io, a Denver-based company that develops intelligent irrigation systems, won the $50,000 top prize at last week’s “Glorious Failure” Challenge, which was part of the Colorado Innovation Network’s annual summit.
Nanoly Bioscience is developing a chemical that will allow vaccines to be shipped without refrigeration. It finished second in this year’s University of Colorado-Denver competition and won $5,000. It also won the $50,000 first place prize at the Duke University Startup Challenge, finished third and won $10,000 at the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, and won $15,000 at the Intel Global Challenge.
Brandfolder graduated from Techstars Boulder in August and recently won a competition at an event co-hosted by the Colorado Technology Association and the Society for Information Management’s Colorado chapter.