February Michigan Tech Events Focus on Post-Pandemic Life, Hackathons & Wellness Software

By Laura Cowan

Laura K. Cowan is a tech editor and journalist whose work has focused on promoting sustainability initiatives for automotive, green tech, and conscious living media outlets.

What's going on lately with all the pitch groups and networking events that have gone virtual? This month, we're seeing tech groups focus on planning through the end of the coronavirus pandemic to look forward to how work and life will function in the future. Also, we're seeing a lot of conferences and pitch groups focused on health and wellness as well as COVID response technology and data analysis. Plus, some regular hackathons are still happening that you won't want to miss out of Detroit.

Traverse City recently had its TCNewTech pitch event that this month featured the following startups:

TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN: The local startup The Warzone won the TCNewTech Pitch Contest held during an online-only event that aired on the TCNewTech YouTube Channel and Facebook Page to an international audience on Tuesday. The Warzone brings video games to life inside their Nerf Arena. “Kids nowadays just want to sit in front of a screen and play video games all day. Parents, on the other hand, want their kids to be more physically active, and to get more family time together,” says co-founder Matthew Elliott. By studying the world’s top first-person shooter video games Elliott has developed a way to turn them into reality. These games are brought to life through custom programmed and custom-designed devices. The score is automatically kept track of so there’s no room for human error.

The Warzone, a high-powered Nerf arena, beat out three other entrepreneurs to take home the $500 cash prize, which was sponsored by 4Front Credit Union, a member-owned financial cooperative serving more than 88,000 members across the state of Michigan.

In addition to The Warzone, pitches were given by Gaurav Goomer of MyLifeWell a health and wellness platform, Samir Tendulkar of Khal the social website for professional chefs and cooking enthusiasts, and Parker Lynch of HedgeHog Health that offers telehealth based ABA Parent Coaching for families and the super adorable Hoglet Fidget Mouse for kids with ASD and generally fidgety people. All of these startups at their center offer a product that leads to a healthier lifestyle. Although all presenters are at various stages of launch, the one thing they all share in common is the need for funding. The event was Live Streamed and can be viewed on YouTube and Facebook.

Each of the competitors had five minutes to pitch their startup to the online-only audience followed by five minutes of questions submitted by the live stream audience. After all four founders had presented, the audience had two minutes to vote via text message and they named the Traverse City-based high-powered Nerf arena The Warzone as the evening’s winner.

Ann Arbor's a2tech360 tech week just announced the popular tech festival will again be held in October in 2021, instead of the normally scheduled spring event.