1871 Announces First Winners of the Chicago College Startup Competition
Selected college startups will receive free membership, access to a
full range of 1871 programming and a unique support system
CHICAGO (July 31, 2014)— 1871 announced
the first winners of its inaugural Chicago College Startup Competition Thursday
morning, in conjunction with ThinkChicago. The competition provides one year of
free membership to 1871 for nine grand prize winners and three months of free
membership for two runners-up. This year’s winners were chosen from a talented
group of expanding businesses that were founded in colleges across the country.
“The
Chicago College Startup Competition is an important tool for attracting and
keeping the most talented digital entrepreneurs, designers and developers in
Chicago,” said 1871 CEO Howard A Tullman. “This year’s selected college
startups will benefit not only from 1871’s extensive range of programming, but
also from their extended immersion in the 1871 entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
CCSC
was launched by 1871 in conjunction with and in support of the efforts by Mayor
Emanuel and Governor Pat Quinn to attract and retain businesses in Chicago and
Illinois. Both the Mayor and the Governor have identified young business
owners, especially those from colleges around the nation, as a key group to
attract and retain in Chicago.
“Small businesses are the backbone of Chicago’s economy and these young entrepreneurs are creating the small businesses of tomorrow,” Mayor Emanuel said. “I congratulate the winners of the Chicago College Startup Competition on their accomplishment and expect to welcome them back soon, when they decide to grow their businesses here in Chicago.”
“We have been proud to assist 1871 as it
continues to bolster our economy by reaching out to young entrepreneurs,” Governor
Pat Quinn said. “We congratulate the winners of this competition and look
forward to their contributions to Illinois commerce as they advance in their
careers.”
In
addition to receiving free membership at 1871, chosen companies will have
access to the full range of 1871 membership benefits that include frequent
mentorship opportunities, specialized education programs, and access to
potential partners and investors. 1871
has also created a unique “Upper-Classmen” support system for the new college
startups, which is composed of current 1871 companies that began as college
startups.
Grand Prize Winners
Spectrom
- University of Wisconsin - Madison – Spectrom brings photorealism to 3D
printing by creating an add-on device that automates the production of full,
multicolor objects in a fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer.
Hutster
- Miami University, Ohio – Hutster is a student subletting marketplace that instantly
connects students to help guide them through the subletting process.
Timing and Racing Around the Clock LLC –
Northwestern University - T.R.A.C. seeks to simplify the running
experience through innovative radio frequency identification (RFID) timing
equipment.
Lumonik – University of Chicago –
Lumonik delivers extremely accurate human hydration monitoring devices to
the mass market. The initial product, the Hydraband, comes in the form of a
color changing bracelet that monitors human hydration levels in real-time,
thereby allowing users to actively prevent dehydration.
Hashtagr
– DePaul University – Hashtagr is a social search engine that aggregates
hashtag posts from Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, Google+, and
other resources into a simple user interface.
Omicron – George Washington University
– Omicron uses mobile and online tools to help young people expand their access
to financial markets.
Fitness
Cubed – University of Chicago – Fitness Cubed is creating
"Cubii," an under-the-desk exercise device to address sedentary
behavior in the workplace. Cubii comes with a mobile app that allows users to
keep track of their exercise and connect to various fitness trackers. Fitness
Cubed recently completed a successful Kickstarter
campaign to help fund Cubii.
Share Transport – Northwestern
University – Share Transport is a cloud-based service for maximizing any
company’s transportation efficiency. Relying on analytics to optimize the
logistic operation, Share Transport uses its extensive database to find matches
for everyday transportation requirements.
Carbon Cash
– Michigan State University – Carbon Cash is a behavioral energy
efficiency app targeted towards renter-occupied housing, including college
students. Carbon Cash informs users how much electricity they consume, teaches
them how to use less with educational quizzes, and rewards them for saving
through both psychological competitions with peers and monetary incentives.
Runners-up
Monkey
Bars – Illinois Institute of Technology – MonkeyBars coordinates
crowdsourced innovation challenges (Hackathons) that help companies and
organizations improve the way they learn, think and grow. Their products range
from external crowdsourced consulting initiatives to internal culture of
innovation projects.
AnonyMonkey
– University of Chicago – AnonyMonkey's app offers a way for high school
and college students to share emotions semi-anonymously in groups that are
centralized around each user's campus.
About
1871
1871 is
an entrepreneurial hub for digital startups. Located in The Merchandise Mart,
the soon-to-be 75,000-square-foot facility provides Chicago startups with
programming, access to mentors, educational resources, potential investors and
a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that help them on their path to
building successful businesses. 1871 is the flagship project of the Chicagoland
Entrepreneurial Center.
Good morning and welcome to Chicago and 1871. I’m Howard
Tullman the CEO here at 1871 and I’ll be telling you more about 1871 in a
little while. For now, I just want to tell you how excited we all are about
Think Chicago and especially about our CCSC competition and the great first
class of winners that we’re announcing today.
Apart from a good idea, a killer work ethic, a great team and
a lot of luck (some of which you make yourself), it takes 4 things for a new
business to grow and succeed:
(1) Cash – and today there’s tons around. We’ve had
more than $5 Billion worth of exits of Chicago-based businesses just in the
last year. So money’s no big deal.
(2) Customers – startups sometimes lose sight of the
fact that you’ve got to sell something to someone and those somebodies are
customers and there’s no better city for a diverse customer pool (large and
small) than Chicago. Here’s a dirty little secret – there are no B-2-B
customers on the coasts – they’re all here in the real world. Willie Sutton
said he robbed banks because that’s where the money was. People come to Chicago
to do business because this is where the customers are.
(3) Talent - that’s why we are here today. Attracting
and retaining the best and the brightest talent to 1871 to start and grow their
businesses (and to Chicago to start and grow their families) is our mission and
– so far in just 2 years – we’re killing it. But there’s nothing that you can’t
do harder, longer or better so we’re doing everything we can to create the best
platform in the country to launch your next great idea.
And finally, it takes a Mayor who gets it.
It’s my great pleasure to introduce my friend Rahm Emanuel.
I’ve been his supporter, his client, his landlord, and even an occasional
critic (and you can guess how that worked out) for over 20 years. An old movie
mogul (Samuel Goldwyn) used to say: “I want people to tell me the truth even if
it costs them their jobs.” Rahm wouldn’t go that far; he just likes me to think
of him as a friend who’s always right.
And remarkably, since he’s been running our City, things for
the tech community and for the 250 new businesses starting out here at 1871
simply couldn’t have been any better. So please join me in welcoming a GREAT
supporter of entrepreneurs and innovation, a tremendous leader, and a good
friend – our Mayor.
