Breezometer, Real-Time Air Quality App, Takes Top Prize in Startup Open
Industry: Apps & Software
App provides health recommendations based on real-time air quality maps, founder wins trip to Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2015 in Milan, Italy
Washington, DC (PRUnderground) November 18th, 2014
Breezometer, an app that measures real-time air quality and provides health recommendations to its users, emerged from a field of more than 600 startups from 38 countries to win the 2014 Startup Open. The competition, run by the organizers of Global Entrepreneurship Week, identifies and recognizes the most promising young firms with a startup moment within the past 12 months.
BreezoMeter is a big-data analytics platform that gathers data from thousands of air-monitoring sensors worldwide and uses a unique algorithm to create real-time location-based maps of air-pollution levels down to a street-by-street level.
“Entrepreneurs contribute to society not only by creating jobs and driving economic growth, but by driving innovation that helps solve global challenges and make the world a better place,” said Jonathan Ortmans, president of Global Entrepreneurship Week. “Breezometer is a perfect example of today’s generation of entrepreneurs who are using the marketplace to make the world a better place.”
The app currently maps air quality levels throughout Israel and is already available in the Google store. A U.S. version was just launched earlier this month and the app is coming soon to Apple’s app store.
As the grand prize winner, one member of the Breezometer founder team receives an all-expenses-paid trip to Milan, Italy, to serve as an official delegate to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in March 2015.
The founder team of environmental engineers from Haifa, Israel include: Ran Korber, CEO; Ziv Lautman, CMO; Emil Fisher, CTO; and Revital Hendler.
Also announced today was the prize for the Best Social Startup which went to the Rumie Initiative. The Toronto-based non-profit is bringing free digital educational content to underprivileged children in developing economies. It provides high-quality educational materials, ranging from books and lectures to exercises and games, through low-cost technology. Rumie founder Tariq Fancy will receive an offer of a rent-free, three-month stay in the GEW Startup House in Kansas City’s Startup Village.
Now in its fifth year, the Startup Open competition was open to entrepreneurs who had a “startup moment” between GEW 2013 and GEW 2014 (Nov. 18, 2013 to Nov. 17, 2014). A startup moment is anything that can be interpreted as the company is “open for business,” such as the business becoming incorporated, completing a first sale or securing outside funding. A panel of judges selected the winners on the basis of concept, growth projections and knowledge of their industry.
Startup Open is organized by Global Entrepreneurship Week and supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Dell.
Today’s announcement coincides with Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to spur new ideas, ingenuity and firm creation through local, national and global activities. The week-long celebration takes place in 150 countries with more than 7 million participants at 25,000 events, activities and competitions.
For more information on the 2014 Startup Open winners, visit www.startupopen.com. To learn more about what is happening around the world during the GEW 2014, visit www.gew.co.
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About the Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that aims to foster economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo., and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn.
About Global Entrepreneurship Network
The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) operates a platform of projects and programs in 170 countries aimed at making it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a business. By fostering deeper cross border collaboration through initiatives engaging entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurial support organizations, GEN works to fuel healthier start and scale ecosystems that create jobs, educate individuals, accelerate innovation and strengthen economic growth. For details on the programs and initiatives that make up GEN, visit genglobal.org and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.
