StartUp Weekend 5 Announces Troy Winners

TROY, N.Y. - Nov. 11, 2016 - PRLog -- With participants from 4 states (IL, NH, MA, NY), 3 schools (University at Albany, Sage Colleges and Worcester Polytechnic Institute), ages from 18-67 and many local entrepreneurs, the ideas ranged from access to capital apps to new snack foods. The 28 ideas presented on opening night were voted to 6 by the participants. These 6 proceeded to final pitches Sunday night.

The Grand Prize Winner was MESH a relationship app using Vedic astrology and modern predictive algorithms to gauge long-term fit between couples. Second Place was Insta-Gallery from Jordan White of Sage Colleges creating experiential, pop-up art galleries for millennials. Third Place went to Salty Sweet Snow a new dessert and mobile food business that combines pretzels and ice cream from University at Albany student, Ryan Taratko.

StartUp Weekend International is a collaborative and intense 54-hour event which focuses on innovation and the formation of credible businesses over the course of a weekend. It brings people with different skill sets together to formulate and to present successful ventures for launch.

The prize packages include a range of proven launch services from sponsors: In Focus Brands, EDA Funding, IFP Films, Sage Colleges, Autonomy Distributors and EDA Labs. These services have been involved in over 200 acceleration and startup campaigns.

Rohit Verma of Chicago, Co-Founder of the winning idea (MESH) with his brother and University at Albany Student-Karan Verma, comments: "  Our solution brings a modern application of the time tested technique of Vedic astrological chartby utilizing compatibility scores in a way that can be meaningfully and practically translated over to today's modern world, to improve the quality of a couple's relationship. We are unique in our approach, as we are not a dating site and instead help counsel new and established couples on what areas they may need to work on and suggest actionable steps they can follow to help them realize the full potential of their relationships."

Nick Mathius, a sponsor of the event and EDA Funding's CrowdBuild ™ Manager, adds: "We are excited to bring our new technology and services to these great startup ideas. All businesses need access to funding and our CrowdBuild ™ System combines social media, market automation and data collection to drive funding results on any platform."

For more information about these new startup ideas and the host of launch services, please contact: Jill at JillD@infocusbrands.com.