Tampa startup Immertec wins Rise of the Rest pitch competition

A Tampa Bay company that developed and patented a live VR training platform for medical professionals took the $100,000 top prize at a pitch competition held during last week’s Rise of the Rest bus tour.

Immertec, which was founded in 2017 by Erik Maltais and Jon Clegg, provides a fully immersive 3D experience where physicians can virtually observe and be trained on medical procedures in real time, no matter where they’re located. It’s the latest achievement for the startup, which also received top honors at TiEcon Florida earlier this year and recently announced they’ll be doing a pilot program to help train 3,000 doctors.

The Rise of the Rest tour, which began in Detroit in 2014, is an initiative created by the DC-based investment firm Revolution. During the tour, executives travel the country in search of innovative startup ecosystems, hosting pitch competitions at each stop. Tampa marked the 41^st stop on the current tour, which also visited Miami, the Space Coast, Orlando, and San Juan, PR and netted hundreds of applicants for the startup competition.

Locally, several hundred people turned up to hear pitches from the eight startups selected for the competition, which was held at the headquarters of ConnectWise and judged by a panel that included Revolution CEO and Chairman Steve Case and Tampa Bay Lightning Owner and Founder of Vinik Asset Management Jeff Vinik.

In addition to Immertec, finalists included:

• COI Energy Services, a platform designed to help increase energy efficiency and cut costs for commercial and industrial users.
• Guestbox, a company that provides curated luxury welcome boxes for guests at high-end hotels.
• Pocket Network, which is building a decentralized network of full blockchain nodes that can be seamlessly accessed by developers.
• Presence, a campus engagement platform that helps promote student engagement, increase graduation rates, and support student success.
• Rankminer, an AI platform that analyzes a person’s voice to reveal the speaker’s intent and predict their next actions.
• The Natural Nipple, a bottle designed to match a mother’s natural nipple shape and milk flow, supporting a seamless transition between breast and bottle feeding.
• WorldWatch Plus, a product that provides due diligence, anti-money laundering and fraud risk solutions for operations, compliance and risk managers.