Get ready to LAUNCH… CodeLaunch, that is!
CodeLaunch VII is an exclusive national seed accelerator and pitch competition created by Code Authority’s CEO and President Jason W. Taylor in 2012.
On July 31, 2019 at Comerica Center in Frisco, five finalists representing four startup venture categories will pitch their startup ideas to panelists and a live audience. And, it’s the live audience who will decide the winner!
The startup finalists for 2019 are:
- Prince Nallamothula of Happy Family from Frisco, Texas (Youth Finalist)
- Michael Bates of MEUSwipe from Frisco, Texas (U.S. Commercial Venture finalist)
- Riley Keen of CharaChorder from Dunwood, Georgia (U.S. Commercial Venture finalist)
- Jamie Peden of 3GStrong from Frisco, Texas (Social Impact finalist)
- Ricardo Carmona of Matereo from Coimbra, Portugal (International finalist)
How It Works
Before the anticipated “Pitch Day,” the unique and innovative seed accelerator model pairs the best startup entrepreneurs with professional hack-a-thon teams for three days during which three teams of five professional software developers work on the startups’ product development.
The professional hack-a-thon recipients will compete on stage with writing custom code on Pitch Day. Unlike some venture capitalist competitions, CodeLaunch VII does not involve any cost on the part of the participants or surrendered equity to participate. All ideas are protected under a non-disclosure agreement with the founders.
Competition sponsors and partners, including UNT at Frisco and Improving, will help continue guiding the winning startup venture down the path of success while minimizing its financial risk by awarding over $100,000 in seed services.
While the goal of the ambitious finalists is to win over the audience on Pitch Day, partners Jamie Peden and Kelly Starnes of 3GStrong recognize that even making it to the final round of CodeLaunch represents an enormous accomplishment for all five of the contestants. Peden shared,
It’s always fun to be able to share our passion with others. But it’s also really rewarding to have others recognize your idea as something valuable for society and viable as a business.
More About the Inpressive Finalists
Our own city is heavily represented in the competition with representatives in three of the categories.
Prince Nallamothula of Frisco triumphed as a finalist in the youth category with his “Happy Family” app that encourages family wellness and bonding activities.
Michael Bates of Frisco and his “MEUSwipe,” an app that enables the nearly effortless sharing of contacts with friends, family members, and colleagues represents in the Commercial Venture finalist category alongside Riley Keen’s “CharaChorder” from Dunwoody, Georgia. Bates remarked,
The MEU Swipe team is thrilled and honored to be named a finalist at this year’s CodeLaunch ViII. As a startup we’re a strong believer in execution and being able to quickly achieve MVP status is remarkable. This gives us the opportunity to meet with investors and showcase a workable product.
Jamie Peden’s “3GStrong,” a curriculum concept also hatched in Frisco, is a social and emotional learning curriculum using interactive characters. Peden is excited about the opportunity provided by the competition.
CodeLaunch is an amazing opportunity for startups. Until CodeLaunch, we had been using a purchased slide-like platform to tell our online stories for children. While the teachers we’ve given it to have been fine with this because they’ve loved the content, not having our own platform has limited us to using it with people we know and [prevented us] from truly competing with the bigger, well-funded companies. This opportunity will open a lot of doors for us.
International finalist Ricardo Carmona of Matereo is a company from Portugal that specializes in structural bridge engineering and artificial intelligence that provides early damage detection for bridges.
Carmona is excited about the potential significance of CodeLaunch VII in his company’s startup journey, remarking,
CodeLaunch VII is the perfect event for our stage of development, allowing strategic connections for our development needs in the U.S. We want Frisco to be the very first city in the U.S.A. to have our technology for smarter and predictable bridges.
Excited to hear the pitches and see the winner revealed? Attend CodeLaunch VII on July 31st between 3:00 and 9:00 pm at Comerica Center.
