Microsoft Adds $120,000 Prize to MYPN StartUp Challenge

Semifinalists at Manchester Young Professionals Network’s LIVE Pitch event on April 5 received a pleasant surprise. Microsoft Corp. is providing an additional incentive to enter the 2016 MYPN Startup Challenge—a $120,000 prize package. Mark Kaplan, CEO of Alpha Loft in Manchester, where Tuesday’s event was held, announced at the event that the Microsoft package would be awarded to the best tech winner in the competition.

Microsoft’s $120,000 BizSpark Plus prize package includes free cloud services for one year, access to free software, tools, training courses and support services. That is on top of the MYPN StartUp Challenge grand prize package where the overall winner receives cash and in-kind services from Manchester-area businesses valued at more than $55,000. Also new this year, the second place winner will receive up to $10,000 in cash and the People’s Choice winner will receive up to $5,000 in cash.

Since the competition launched nine years ago, nearly $500,000 in cash and in-kind services have been awarded to NH startups. Applicants submit their ideas to a panel of judges made up of investment bankers, venture capitalists, high-tech experts, and industry leaders. On Tuesday, the six semi-finalists pitched their ideas to the public.

The 2016 semi-finalists are:

• Align Meeting in Nashua, an online meeting work space that fosters best practices before, during, after and between meetings;

• Awâto in New Ipswich, an online platform that assesses and tracks people’s interests, aptitudes, educational attributes, experience and personality to better connect businesses and recruiters with talent;

• Higher Ed Profiles in Manchester, which provides online reporting and query tools for higher education;

• Nobl Coffee in Newmarket, a nitro cold brewing company that puts its coffee on tap in kegs;

• Hidden Collective in Franklin, an online marketplace for outdoor enthusiasts to find small-batch crafted products; and

• ValChoice in Bedford, an online tool that analyzes financial and complaint data on insurance companies using ValChoice’s proprietary analytics software engine and provides free reports showing how good a consumer’s auto and home insurance providers are compared to other insurance companies.

Winning companies will be announced at the final event on May 11 (the location of the event has yet to be determined).