Four USA Startups Advance to Entrepreneurship World Cup Global Finals
Companies to compete against 100 startups from around the world for share of USD 1 million 

Kathryn
Forrest

San Juan, Puerto Rico – Four startups from the United States will advance to the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) Global Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this year after stand-out performances at the national finals held today in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  

  

Maya AI (Tampa, Florida), Storybook (Miami, Florida), MyoGene Bio (Los Angeles, California) and Ricovr (Princeton, New Jersey) will advance to compete for a share of USD 1 million in cash prizes against 100 startups from around the world. The Global Finals will be held November 5-9 during Biban 24.  

 

“I am honored to be chosen out of such a great group of founders,” said Dr. Courtney Young, CEO and co-founder of MyoGene Bio. “I am very excited to be going to Riyadh to share MyoGene’s story of our aim to develop life-saving genetic therapies for muscle diseases. Huge thanks to the Global Entrepreneurship Network and the judges for this opportunity!” 

 

“Advancing to the Entrepreneurship World Cup Global Finals is a testament to our team’s hard work and innovation, propelling Ricovr onto a global stage and opening doors to unprecedented opportunities for growth and impact,” said Dr. Himanshu Bhatia, company founder and CEO. Ricovr is on mission is to revolutionize point-of-care diagnostics. "I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to GEN for their support and for providing this incredible platform to showcase our innovation on a global scale." 

 

Ten companies pitched for the chance to advance directly to the global finals. The remaining six join the top 250 companies in the competition and will participate in a Bootcamp which features virtual training and mentoring sessions targeted to their company’s current stage and growth trajectory. 

 

These companies include:  

  • Laura Markewicz, founder of Lotza (Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin) 
  • Vitali Karpeichyk, founder of PigPug Health (New York, New York) 
  • Yamini Sagar, founder of Instarails (Alpharetta, Georgia) 
  • Vinicio Vargas, founder of Ainnova Tech (Houston, Texas)
  • Robert Parada Zuluaga, founder of COCO Digital (Miami, Florida)
  • Jason Brown, founder of Deliveri (Raleigh, North Carolina) 

Judges for the national competition were:  

  • Jeff Hoffman, serial entrepreneur and chair of the Global Entrepreneurship Network 
  • Carolyn Rodz, CEO and co-founder, Hello Alice   
  • Donna Harris, founder + CEO, Builders and Backers
  • Ali Jamal, founding partner, First Check Ventures   

The EWC USA National Finals were organized by the Global Entrepreneurship Network, in partnership with Hello Alice, and held as founders, investors, policymakers and ecosystem builders gathered as part of GEC+Puerto Rico. 

Since launching in 2019, the Entrepreneurship World Cup has attracted 430,000 registrations from 200 countries and connected founders with over US$4M in cash prizes and another US$266M worth of free support and services. 

 

The Entrepreneurship World Cup is hosted globally by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and Monsha’at.