The American Underground and global startup incubator and seed fund 1776 today announced the three Challenge Cup Durham winners, representing the most compelling local startups tackling the world’s most difficult and intractable social challenges.

“We’re excited to see where this leads,” said Tommy Thekkekandam, co-founder of Tom & Jenny’s, one of the winners, “but even more excited for yet another opportunity for connection with the global entrepreneurial community and movement!”

The three winners will move on to the regional competition in New York City, where they will compete against other leading startups from across the east coast for the chance to advance to the global finals competition at the 1776 Challenge Festival in Washington, D.C. in June 2016.

“Durham is increasingly home to so many inspiring entrepreneurs who are building high-growth startups to tackle big world challenges,” said Donna Harris, co-founder of 1776. “We’re proud to help give these extraordinary companies an opportunity to present their vision on the global stage and connect to the resources and relationships they need to be successful.”

The event highlights the Triangle’s vibrant startup community and the contributions its innovators are making in tackling some of the world’s most difficult and intractable social challenges. Today’s winners will advance to the regional competition in NYC. From there, five of the most promising startups will be chosen to join 40 regional winners from across the eight other regional competitions and 45 wildcard winners at Challenge Festival 2016 to compete for $1 million in cash prizes and funding, and connect with mentors, corporate partners, policymakers, and potential investors.

Today’s event was held in the American Underground in Durham.

“The American Underground is thrilled to be a part of this global competition and help put Triangle startups on the world map. There’s a wealth of talented companies here whose stories need to be shared,” says Adam Klein, Chief Strategist for the American Underground.

Today’s winners are:

Tom and Jenny’s: Founded by a dentist and her husband in their home kitchen, Tom & Jenny’s developed a new kind of candy that’s both delicious and great for teeth. We worked side-by-side with a James Beard Award-winning pastry chef to perfect our all-natural, sugar-free candies, which are preferred over sugar caramels by 60% of blind taste-testers.

Seachange Technologies: SeaChange Technologies (SCT) is developing an innovative technology for water purification and desalination. Our systems for will address the key drawbacks of existing desalination technologies, including intensive energy requirements, polluting brine wastewater byproduct, and high maintenance costs.  To enter the market, we are focused on developing a solution for oil and gas producers struggling to dispose or recycle “produced water”, a high-salinty regulated waste byproduct which is the single highest cost component of oil/gas production.

Nuero+: Neuro+ makes brain-controlled video games to help kids with ADHD improve their ability to focus and pay attention. Users wear an EEG headset that measures their brain activity and motion, and play a video game that trains them to focus and keep still. Research shows this technology is capable of improving focus and reducing hyperactivity as well as leading stimulant drugs, with no side effects or risk of abuse.