The National Hardware Cup made its stop in Los Angeles this past Monday, where five early-stage hardware startups competed for a spot in the National Finals. Taking the top hardware startup title and winning $1,000 cash was Los Angeles’ very own Rufus Labs, creator of the world’s first wrist communicator The Rufus Cuff.
The event was hosted at SoCal’s first hardware-focused accelerator, Make in LA, and featured a panel of five local entrepreneurs, a brief introduction from the judges and a 4-minute pitch competition, which was followed by a 5-minute Q&A. The panel discussed “How to Build a Successful Hardware Startup,” where panelists Shaun Arora of Make in LA, Yvonne Lee of IndieGoGo, Andy Chan of VIT, August Cziment of Ring Labs and Corey Mack of LAFORGE Optical provided insight on things they wish they knew in the beginning, advice on when to get your product out to the public and general advice for hardware founders. Judging the hardware startups were Gregory Maiatico of Flash Funders, Austin Clements of Ten on Ten Ventures, Jordan Hudson of UpFront Ventures and Peter Lee of Baroda Ventures, who judged on commercial viability, team capability and demonstrated commitment.
Los Angeles was the fifth city to host the National Hardware Cup over a four-month period. The city was chosen for employing half a million people in manufacturing. The five startups that competed were NV Drones, creators of SenseMe’s integrated software, tracking fleets of drones; Rufus Labs, creators of the world’s first wrist communicator The Rufus Cuff for consumer and industrial applications; Print Human, the bioprinting startup utilizing a six axis arm; SanWood LLC., developers of SweetSpot, integrating non-optical motion capture to measure extremities’ degree of motion; and audience favorite, CloudKeyz, providing keyless entry for commercial property.
The Hardware Cup is taking place in nine cities in search of the country’s best hardware startups, with each city’s winner being awarded $1,000 cash, a membership to TechShop Inc. or Hexlab Makerspace, a one-year Altium license, $500 3D printing from ExOne, various regional prizes and a chance to compete in the national finals. Competitions are taking place in Pittsburgh; Washington D.C; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Boston; New York City; San Jose, Calif.; Los Angeles; Austin, Texas; and Chicago, with the first five city’s winners having already been selected and four remaining. The national finals will take place in Pittsburgh on May 11, 2016 with teams competing for a $50,000 grand prize investment from StartBot, $5,000 cash prize for the runner up and $3,000 cash prize for the second runner up.
