We are so excited to have wrapped the first ever CBK Ventures Pitch Competition. This opportunity provides local underrepresented tech founders with funding and technical resources and in total we awarded $60,000 to five companies!
Through the work of 1Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia, Coded by Kids, and Plain Sight Capital, our mission is to identify and support tech-enabled startups run by underrepresented individuals.
We are so impressed by the applications we received - Philly did not disappoint and showed us just how much startup talent is right here in the City of Brotherly Love. We were not only able to witness the talent of local underrepresented founders, but also the power of collaboration. This event was an example of the collective impact of nonprofit, government and corporate partners coming together to invest in equitable tech and innovation in our city. Together, we are building 1Philadelphia.
Winners
1st Place - Tribaja™️ - Shannon Morales
Tribaja is a community-based sourcing tool that builds diverse tech pipelines for the brands we love.
2nd Place - SnapRefund - Cody Eddings and Anis Taylor
SnapRefund provides a digital payment platform and white labeled payments API to insurance businesses to facilitate B2C claim payments. With a mission to financially empower the underbanked, SnapRefund offers simple onboarding and payouts that don't require a bank account via innovative digital payment rails.
3rd Place - TrackCE - Amy Felix, MSN, RN, CRNP and Rajeev S Iyer
Track CE is the one stop solution for physicians and nurses to track, record, and report their continuing education credits and mandatory requirements. The mobile application with a desktop interface will provide customers with real time progress of their continuing education credits, specific to their state licensure and certifying board. With additional features such as reminder notifications of renewal dates and reporting feature for audits, Doctors and Nurses will no longer worry about tracking their continuing education credits and can focus on providing the best care to patients.
Emerging Founders:
Art Rize - Jona Shreeves-Taylor
Art Rize is an interactive art marketplace changing the way art is found, bought, and sold. Through integrated marketing and gamification, Art Rize eliminates common hassles and creates an addictively engaging experience for independent artists and art buyers everywhere. This app is a paradigm shift for the creative economy making the process of buying and selling art easy, fun, and affordable for everyone.
Dyneri - Carolina Beltran Weber and Natalia Duarte
Dyneri is the Nerd Wallet for the historically underserved US Hispanic market. They are the only culturally focused platform connecting consumers to reputable financial education and products - helping Hispanics thrive financially.
Special Thanks
Special thanks to our judges: Blessy Thomas, Jason Ray, Omar Mencin, Antonia Dean, Jonathon Beschen, Rudiger J. Ellis (Rudy), Diegane Dione, Christopher McDemus, Justice Nicole Miranda, Laura Plunkett
And of course, this event would not be possible without our 1Philadelphia partners:
City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce, Plain Sight Capital, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs, PACT , African-American Chamber of Commerce of PA, NJ & DE, Cozen O'Connor and CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center) Philadelphia.
