Last night, 10 startups pitched live in front of a packed crowd at Shea's Performing Arts Center for a shot at one of 8 cash prizes - ranging from $500,000 to the $1 million grand prize.

The theme of the evening was #forwardtogether, a commitment to continuing the growth of entrepreneurship in Buffalo and moving the city forward.

We are so excited to announce the companies that will be setting up shop in Buffalo in January 2018!

$1 Million Winner: SomaDetect
From: Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
SomaDetect is an agricultural technology company that provides dairy farmers with key milk quality indicators. With SomaDetect, farmers are intimately connected with every cow they milk, enabling them to identify problems early, make informed decisions and produce the best possible milk.

$650,000 Winner: Squire
Hometown: New York, NY
Squire is OpenTable for barbershops.

$550,000 Winner: Qidni Labs
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Qidni Labs Inc. develops renal replacement therapies (artificial kidneys) that fit in the palm of your hand, which can be used by millions of patients with kidney failure.

$500,000 Winner: Femi Secrets
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Femi Secrets provides the ultimate protection to women of all ages during their monthly menstrual cycle. Femi Secrets specializes in eco-friendly, healthy and savvy options for women and their premiere product, Pretty Panty, guarantees no leaks. They are keeping women beautiful, comfortable and confident. 

$500,000 Winner: Kangarootime
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
Kangarootime is the first modern mobile and web operating system for childcare centers, schools and camps. They provide a full document management strategy to make schools paperless and create workflows to ensure that students, parents, staff members and management are always up-to-date.

$500,000 Winner: Burner Fitness
Hometown: Buffalo, NY
Burner is a platform for mind and body training. They make it affordable for anyone to train with the best fitness professionals and wellness coaches.

$500,000 Winner: TARA.AI
Hometown: San Jose, CA
TARA is an intelligent product builder, using AI to speed up the software development of products through automated project scoping, assignment of vetted contractors and performance management.

$500,000 Winner: Suncayr
Hometown: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Suncayr’s product, SPOT, is a smart indicator of UV light to help everyone be safer in the sun. SPOT shows sunscreen users when their sunscreen is no longer protecting them using a simple color change.

$10,000 People’s Choice Award Presented by Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation: SomaDetect

About 43North
43North is the $5 million startup competition, awarding cash prizes to some of the best entrepreneurs and startups from around the world. 43North winners also receive free incubator space in Buffalo for one year, guidance from mentors in related fields, and access to other business incentive programs such as START-UP NY. 43North operates through the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative and grants from Empire State Development and the New York Power Authority. Additional support comes from several other sponsors. For more information about 43North, visit www.43north.org.

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