Over the years, CodeLaunch DFW has helped propel numerous early-stage startups with annual events that have been held in Frisco. Now the seed accelerator competition is bringing its finals to the city of Dallas for the first time.

CodeLaunch DFW 2022 will be held on November 16 at Southside Music Hall at Gilley’s. Six companies will face off for the top prize in an event that comprises a tech tradeshow, a startup conference, and a “raucous networking event.”

“CodeLaunch is a startup and rock-n-roll show like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” Jason Taylor, CodeLaunch president and founder, said in a statement.

Produced by tech management firm Improving

Produced by Dallas-based technology management and consulting services firm Improving, CodeLaunch was formed by Taylor as a way to support startups that were “investible but their technology held up closing funding deals.” To help with that, the six startup finalists will be paired with teams of volunteer software and app developers from local firms that are sponsoring the event during a hackathon before their pitches in order to “ensure their technical products are accelerated.” CodeLaunch says its sponsors and partners put thousands of dollars in professional seed services behind the winners.

Inspired by Digital Fight Club’s format

This year’s finals, which will be emceed by FirstGen Agency founder Raheel Malik, are taking on a new format inspired by CodeLaunch community partner Digital Fight Club. Finalists will go head-to-head in multiple rounds—similar to a sports bracket—with judges and audience member interactively voting for their favorite pitches until one winner is crowned.

“It’s a beautiful, shared community conversation that happens within these special professional hackathons. It is incredibly competitive, but it’s also cooperative,” Kristen Darby, VP of marketing at CodeLaunch hackathon team sponsor Dialexa, said in a statement.

CodeLaunch has awarded more than $1.3M in services

All finalists of CodeLaunch’s seed accelerator competition gathered on stage in Frisco after 3GStrong’s 2019 win. [Photo: Rachel Walters]

Since starting in 2013, CodeLaunch says it has supported the startup ecosystem by awarding more than $1.3 million in services to finalists and overall winners, including local companies like CharaChorder and Autix. CodeLaunch says it’s different from other startup accelerators in that it’s free for startups to apply and it doesn’t require them to give up any equity—something it says is guided by the principles of conscious capitalism.

Meet the CodeLaunch finalists

• DAMN THAT’S CHEAP (Addison)—a hotel reservation platform that rebooks stays for users when it finds a lower price
• BeONE Sports (Houston)—a tech startup focused on “globalizing specialized training, for any athlete”
• Concession Team (McKinney)—an online ordering solution helping concession stands expedite order pickups while tracking their inventory and sales
• Echelon (Dallas)—a platform that “enables companies to find credible talent, approved and pre-vetted by community leaders, and validate credentials by leveraging built-in blockchain”
• WeddingSeat (DFW)—an RSVP platform for debt-free weddings
• ChangeFinder (Eugene, Ore.)—a startup focused on streamlining the grant writing, management, and reporting for nonprofits, foundations, government agencies, and private foundations

Presenting sponsors for the 10^th annual CodeLaunch are Cyrannus and Confluent, along with first-time sponsor Dell for Startups, whose lead Lucas Chaya del Pino will be speaking at the event. Hackathon team sponsors include Contollo, Dialexa, Frogslayer, Improving, Leverture, and Virtuous.

You can snag a ticket for the upcoming CodeLaunch event here.

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