GENIUS NY business competition will take place in Central New York, with CenterState CEO hosting the program at The Tech Garden, a business incubator in Syracuse.
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This new business competition – which is open to startups around the globe – will create a world-class acceleration experience in Upstate New York for high quality companies that are creating innovative, data-intensive, scalable businesses.
GENIUS NY is a new business accelerator program for startups with a focus on data, cyber security, analytics and advanced data driven manufacturing, among other data-centric technologies.
The GENIUS NY competition (Growing ENtrepreneurs & Innovators in UpState New York) will be the key business accelerator program at The Tech Garden. The resources and industry strengths of Central New York will be combined with cash investments and intense incubation programming over a 24-month period.
There will be nine months of program development, marketing, startup company applications, judging and selections followed by 15 months of two, tiered rounds of competition.
The program will invest more than $3 million in participating companies and contribute significantly to the evolving innovation ecosystem in and around Central New York by finding, supporting and investing in some of the best startup companies in the world.
Additionally, approximately $1 million in program support will be provided throughout the competition to assist with expenses such as rent for startups, entrepreneurs in residence, coding assistance, sales and marketing support, and other resources.
The competition will consist of two rounds, with each round judged independently of one another, followed by a final Grand Prize Round.
Round 1 will be a short and intensive “regional†competition in the spring of 2016 and will consist of 16 companies from the Central New York region competing for entry into a three month experiential qualifier accelerator.
Round 1 will serve as a preparatory experience for companies from eight different classifications to compete in the at-large Round 2.
Round 2 will immediately follow Round 1 and last for 12-months, starting in summer 2016. This round is “at-large†and offers higher value prizes and longer, more focused business acceleration programming.
To enter Round 2, teams will be evaluated by a distinguished panel of judges, who will select 12 semi-finalists from online applications to present live demos and pitches to the judges’ panel, which will then select the six entrants. During the competition, startup founders will reside in Central New York with office space and support programs delivered by The Tech Garden.
And during the 12-months of the competition, each team will receive an investment of $10,000 per month and a housing stipend to build their businesses in anticipation of the Grand Prize round.
By the summer of 2017, those six companies will compete for 3 Grand Prizes valued at $1 million, $600,000 and $400,000. In addition to the three-tiered grand prizes totaling $2 million, GENIUS NY will award sixteen $15,000 prizes in Round 1 and six $120,000 investments during the 12-months of Round 2.
A $275,000 “Follow on Fund†will also be available to grand prize winners to participate in future equity investment rounds. Grand prize winners will be required to operate their business in Central New York for at least one year after the competition’s conclusion. ■