TechCrunch50, the two-day competition-based conference for emerging companies, wrapped up Tuesday night, September 15 2009, announcing the winners of its top prizes, chosen by the TechCrunch50 panel of venture capitalists and event organizers.
The San Mateo, CA based company RedBeacon, who presented in Monday’s Local & Classified Marketplaces session, took the conference’s top prize. Founded by former Google-ites Ethan Anderson, Yaron Binur, and Aaron Lee, RedBeacon takes search local, reaching out to services providers the user is searching for, and inviting them to bid on the job. Instead of search results, users are served price quotes and profiles.
As Best In Show winners, RedBeacon was presented with a $50,000 check and close to $1.3 million in partner advertising.
Tuesday’s activities also awarded two new DemoPit winners, as voted by DemoPit attendees. Chyngle, from Palo Alto, CA, is a peer-to-peer location-based mobile marketplace. An “ultra-local experience”, users interact with others within their Ultra-Local Environments (ULEs)—any large venue where a large number of people congregate, be it a hotel, motel, park, stadium, school, and so on. Currently, Chyngle is offered as an iPhone app.
Singapore’s Socialwok took the second DemoPit award. Socialwok is a social Google app with mobile capabilities compatible with any smart phone. Users create a social network in which they create and share links, their Google calendars, docs, and more. A feed-based app powered by the Google app engine, Socialwok “adds the missing social layer to Google apps.”
Now in its third year, TechCrunch50 has become the leading, elite tech conference in Silicon Valley. The 50 startups are chosen each year from the pool of applications to present to a panel of venture capitalists and executives and a packed audience of media, investors, and fellow startups.
Update: Phil Jeudy, RPRN onsite correspondant and CEO of AltaideValley, interviews TechCrunch50’s Best In Show Winner RedBeacon.
Photo by Chanaye J Thomas, courtesy of TechCrunch50
