2 R.I. startups named MassChallenge winners

NORDIC TECHNOLOGY GROUP and NBA Math Hoops were among the 16 winners of the 2012 MassChallenge competition. / COURTESY MASSCHALLENGE
NORDIC TECHNOLOGY GROUP and NBA Math Hoops were among the 16 winners of the 2012 MassChallenge competition. / COURTESY MASSCHALLENGE

BOSTON– Two Rhode Island companies – Nordic Technology Group and NBA Math Hoops – were among the 16 winners of the 2012 MassChallenge at the competition’s Tuesday evening awards ceremony.
Winners of the South Boston accelerator program’s competition shared $1.1 million in prize money and $4 million in in-kind prizes.
Nordic Technology Group, the developer of an indoor positioning system that allows older people to maintain independent active lives, earned $50,000 from the competition.
NTG’s technology “provides families and home health care services with the exact location of their loved one inside their home, allowing them to pro-actively monitor their movements, behavior and health,” according to the company’s page on the MassChallenge website. “NTG gives older people freedom – and their loved ones peace of mind.”
Providence-based NBA Math Hoops was one of 25 social impact startup finalists in the competition. The company, which is partnered with the National Basketball Association, aims to improve math literacy among urban youth by making fun educational tools that harness the power of the NBA.
NBA Math Hoops won $50,000 from the main competition and an additional $20,000 from the John W. Henry Family Foundation.
The two Rhode Island startups were chosen as MassChallenge winners from more than 1,200 applications.
The grand prize winners of the event, each earning $100,000, were Global Research Innovation & Technology, RallyPoint, Strong Arm Technologies and LiquiGlide.
Global Research won recognition for its “Leveraged Freedom Chair,” a wheelchair that provides increased mobility. Rallypoint aims to “revolutionize the way U.S. military professionals connect.” Strong Arm Technologies offer special lifting solutions to the everyday worker, and LiquiGlide makes a “super slippery coating” to ease food dispensing.
Currently in its third year, the MassChallenge program provided free summer office space for the finalist teams, as well as mentorship and other services. MassChallenge does not take any equity in the companies.

No posts to display