The Washington Post, in partnership with D.C. start-up incubator 1776, is hosting a pitch contest for millennial entrepreneurs, as part its 2015 inGENuitY summit. Semi-finalists chosen by the team at 1776 have a scalable product or service beyond the initial stages of development and are solving consumer problems in the areas of education, energy, health, social impact, food or transportation industries submitted answers to queries about solving a consumer problem and facing regulatory or policy hurdles.
Semifinalists and finalists will be judged by a panel of business, policy and marketing experts at The Post’s inGENuitY event Dec. 2.
Here are the semifinalists:
Heartful.ly is a wedding registry for charitable giving. The platform builds elegant registries featuring real development projects — provided through partnerships with non-profit organizations in the U.S. and across five continents — in need of funding.
RemitRight is a World Bank-backed comparison tool for international money transfers. The company provides information to the 25 millions consumers in the notoriously opaque remittance market and helps reduce the $1 billion in excessive fees people pay due to lack of information on costs and exchange rate mark-ups.
Vaccine Innovations Inc. is involved in developing a tool to support active last-leg vaccine transportation.
Catlilli Games creates educational science, technology, engineering and math games targeted for children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Co-founded by a scientist and an engineer who transitioned to careers in education, the company offers STEM games from a variety of fields in both tabletop and digital formats.
5. Underground Greens
Presented by owner Maryna Higgins
Founded in 2015, Underground Greens is an urban, hydroponic farm providing micro-greens to restaurants, juice bars and grocers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan market.
MajorClarity’s platform allows students to try out career paths through “test-drives” — simplifying tracking and advising students for schools.
Leema stands for Let Everyone Eat My Art. Leema is an Etsy-like marketplace for small-batch and unique craft foods. The company gives small food producers a platform to easily set up a shop and sell their products to consumers looking for specialized food products.
WorkAmerica is the LinkedIn for the skilled trades. The company charges employers an annual subscription fee to recruit from its platform.
SmartBridge was created to connect enterprises with top doctors, scientists, lawyers and consultants on a freelance basis for project-based work. The company manages the backend processes, including contracts, payments, protection from liability and conflicts of interest. SmartBridge’s proprietary algorithm matches clients with the ideal individuals and teams, based on reviews of completed projects, subject matter expertise, affiliated institutions.
10. CookNook
CookNook is a peer-to-peer platform for devlivered home-cooking. Local home cooks — including stay-at-home parents and working professionals with flexible schedules — deliver their excess food to busy professionals and families through on-demand and subscription models.
