Startup Challenge 2023 Winners

The winners for the 14th annual Startup Challenge Monterey Bay are in! 

Venture Division

  • Grand Prize: Friendly Robots - Commercial-grade robotics for facility maintenance

  • Runners-Up (2): 

    • RedRider - A sustainable housing solutions company that produces affordable, mass-produced housing using eco-friendly modular timber.

    • Sweet Prairie Haskap - A first-to-market, high potency, nutrient-dense concentrated juice made from the haskap berry. 

Main Street Division

  • Grand Prize: Chezza Jewelry - Sells handmade, minimalist jewelry to spotlight your radiance.

  • Runners-Up (2): 

    • Locally Lit - Local candlemaking experience and classes

    • PassoDoble - A non-tech interactive educational tool to promote verbal, fine motor, and memory skills for children ages 6 months - 4 years old.

Social Venture Division

  • Grand Prize: Art Abilities - A non-profit organization dedicated to empowering intellectually disadvantaged people by helping them in their creative expression and community integration through art.

  • Runners-Up (2): 

    • Get Up and Move - Provides a website and apps that help people get up and move more frequently and mindfully throughout the day.

    • Play Brightly Youth Charitable Foundation - A charitable foundation serving girls (3rd-8th grade) with health, nutrition, strength and conditioning education and basketball player development.

Student Division

  • Grand Prize: Bubbly Hill Wines  - A wine company that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) technology to produce and sell high-quality wines.

Crowd Favorite

  • The Bus Stop Beer Garden - A craft beer garden that sells draft beer and food with an "old bus" theme.

  • Stellaria Creative Company - Provides unique engagement marketing and storytelling that incorporates original cirque musical theatre and/or site-specific productions.

Doug EricksonStartup Challenge Monterey Bay