After months of refining its platform and business plan with bthe help of Raleigh’s Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, the Stone Soup platform team took home first place in the NC DataPalooza.
Stone Soup emerged the top choice of judges as the day-long open data event concluded at Red Hat’s headquarters downtown.
The winning team not only took home $3,000 but also landed a spot at the new HQ Raleigh shared office space complex in the Warehouse District.
Stone Soup prevailed over two other finalists: HeathScout and FreeWheeling NC.
The three teams all worked with the Blackstone program, receiving help from business mentors.
Here’s how the organizers described each of the finalists:
- HealthScout: Our goal is to change the way patients select physicians and healthcare facilities, using Medicare billing data, insurance plan trends, customer reviews, and other data sources.
- FreeWheeling NC: Crowdsourced bike routes based on real-time GPS/rider feedback in order to influence public policy, aid users with optimal results, and promote biking as transportation.
- Stone Soup: A platform to help those who need food, or those with food to donate, find food pantries in their area. Individuals in need can also register to get alerts when food is available. Food pantries can also register so they can keep their information up to date.
HQ Raleigh and Forward Impact put on the second annual competition, which is focused on “open data,” which is information gleaned from federal, state and local government and other resources.
How this data could be used to improve health was the focus of the 2014 competition.
Friday’s finals concluded a competition which began with the Triangle Startup Weekend: Health DataJam in May.
Eight teams entered the competition.
NC DataPalooza was the final event in the Forward Triangle: Triangle Entrepreneurship Week.
