For the 5th Regional Final the twelve most promising startups of the region Northern America travelled to Mexico City for the next stage in the Get in the Ring competition organized by Endeavor Mexico. The winning startups of Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, United States, Canada and Mexico battled for tickets for the International Final of Get in the Ring on the 15th of March.
During the day the startups had several training sessions, lunch with the Champion Jury Members, and a preliminary round. The six best startups were selected to pitch during the award show of Get in the Ring Northern America.
The award show took place in the fantastic location: Polyforum, a cultural facility that is part of the World Trade Center in Mexico City. At the fantastic venue, the startups in the lightweight category were the first one to battle it out. The winning startup of the USA, the first location-based book discovery app Squirl battled against the winning startup of Canada, Transpod, a company that is making a hyperloop a reality in Canada. The startup Squirl Inc. won the first ticket to the International Final.
After the first battle the audience was ready to see the middleweight startups fight for the title. The Costa Rican startup Balanced Energy which developed a system to convert waste plastic into fuel, faced off against the Mexican startup Aislatum, a company that created a innovative product for different types of surfaces for the perfect isolation.
After five rounds the team of Jury Champions consisting of high caliber business leaders in Mexico: César Pérez (Southern Cross Group), Huibert Aalbers (IBM), and Pilar Aguilar (Endeavor Mexico) asked some though questions to the startups to make the final decision. After a short deliberation the Jury Champion Members crowned Aislatum as middleweight winner.
The final battle of the night was between two heavyweight startups. The startup eStaffMatch, winner of Canada, created a platform to facilitate qualified event staff for every event competed against, Territorium Life, winner of Mexico, which created a gamified social network for education for students battled against each other in the Ring. It was a heated one-on-one battle, but in the end the startup eStaffMatch came out victorious.
Squirl Inc., Aisaltum and eStaffMatch will compete for the International title on the 15th March. Keep an eye out for these startups and join them in Medellín for the grand final of the Get in the Ring season of 2015-2016. Get your ticket here!