Stack, a Seattle startup intent on making cryptocurrency and modern finance accessible for Gen Z, took the top prize at Madrona Venture Labs’ recent Launchable event aimed at Web3 startups.
For its winning pitch, Stack will receive $100,000 in pre-seed funding from Madrona Venture Labs. The startup studio, associated with Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group, was founded in 2014 and uses its funds to fast-track the early stage startup process for entrepreneurs.
Launchable attracted hundreds of applicants and ultimately featured 18 teams and about 90 people virtually. Most were from Seattle, but participants also joined from Sydney, Seoul, Bogota, Berlin, and New York.
“What initially sparked our interest in building community around Web3 was the quality of talented, ambitious, rising-star talent we have seen entering the category over the past several months,” said MVL Managing Director Mike Fridgen. “This event was aimed to bring that talent together and help them take their ideas and companies to the next level.”
Speakers at the event included Philip Rosedale, founder of Linden Lab, the parent company of Second Life; Ed Fries, Microsoft gaming vet and general partner at 1Up Ventures; Spencer Rascoff, co-founder and chair at Pacaso, Recon Food, dot.LA, Supernova; Rahul Sood, CEO and co-founder of Irreverent Labs, creators of the MechaFightClub; Julie Larson-Green, chief technology officer at MagicLeap.
Stack is led by founder and CEO Will Rush. The startup is launching a gamified platform that allows teens to invest in more than 30 cryptocurrency coins.
“We are a financial literacy-first platform so the main goal is to give foundational education on the good the bad and everything in between,” Rush told GeekWire last month.
The runners up in the event were PSi, led by Georgina Denis; and Parallux, led by Gabe Zetter.
Here’s a complete list of teams that participated in Launchable:
- Archie: Crypto collateralized credit cards and rewards.
- Bartrr: Crypto app to buy goods in a gamified ecosystem.
- Curie: Turning product photos into 3D models in the metaverse.
- DeACLS: VR cardiovascular life support training.
- Flocks: DAO discovery and engagement.
- Lun Labs: Platform that enables users to mint videos from existing platforms.
- Novoloom: Streamlines the process of designing digital garment assets.
- metastitch: Enabling successful brand experiences in the metaverse.
- Niftory: Engine for creating customized NFT launches.
- Parallux: Platform for creating and hosting 3D virtual events.
- Prestij: NFT-gated IRL events and rewards.
- PSi: DAO governance via audio.
- RealTickets: Event tickets emitted as NFTs.
- Reclaim: Crypto ad-free browser.
- Spice AI: Blockchain data APIs for developers.
- Stack: Teen crypto investing app.
- Theia: Decentralized strategy game.
- Tribe: Decentralized governance platform.
