Yesterday MassChallenge, the year long business competition, announced the winners of the grand prizes. With over $1 Million in prizes, this has drawn international attention as one of the largest business plan competitions. Starting with a pool of over 450 applicants, the judges winnowed it down to a final list of 111 selected companies that were provided free space for three months and mentoring to help them refine their business ideas and pitches. 26 teams were chosen from these finalists to the final round to make their pitch to a world renowned panel of judges.
The competition was fierce as this was not some college level biz plan competition. Several companies were startups by veteran entrepreneurs. Progressive thinking MassChallenge also included a category for enterprises with significant Social Impact.
Last night Seeding Labs learned that they were the winners of the $50,000 prize for their entry in the social impact category. Seeding Labs mission is to support and expand scientific research in developing countries by providing affordable reclaimed laboratory equipment and facilitating connections within the global scientific research community. Their simple focused approach won over the judges. Seeding Labs has been on a tear having recently been invited to the TED Global conference as a TED Fellow; was awarded the Young Professional Award by the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network; and have been named a PopTech Social Innovation Fellow.
Seeding Labs is one of the featured speakers in the Technology Track for ForSE 2010: Forum for Social Entrepreneurs to be held on Saturday, October 30 at Northeastern University. For information and to register for ForSE 2010: http://www.forumse.org
The Social Ecosystem 