SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Comerica Bank and RocketSpace announced FitPay as the winner of the $50,000 Wearable FinTech Startup Challenge. Three local judges helped decide the grand prize winner from the field of five finalists, which also included UpDownLeftRight, Amitee, Bridgecrest Medical and Ascenden at a live pitch event hosted at RocketSpace's tech campus, Thursday evening, December 3, 2015.
"We were very impressed with the quality of the presentations at the pitch night event," said Greg Belanger, President of Comerica's Tech and Life Sciences Division. "These entrepreneurs are creating technology that has the potential to add tremendous value to people's lives."
FitPay's CEO & Co-Founder Michael Orlando presented at the pitch night event. FitPay's goal is to bring payment capabilities to wearable devices by removing all of the "heavy lifting" for wearable manufacturers, consumers, credit card issuers and the card networks to enable payments by delivering an all in one solution.
"We are thrilled to have been selected as the winner of the Comerica RocketSpace Wearable FinTech Challenge from among such innovative startups," said Orlando. "This event demonstrates Comerica's commitment to innovation and significant support for the startup community. This will be a huge step to bring our payment platform for wearable devices to market."
The entries were judged on the following criteria: innovativeness, disruption potential, scale potential, readiness for market and revenue potential. Rose Figliano, Senior Manager, Corporate Innovation Services at RocketSpace, Annie Gaus, Tech Reporter at the San Francisco Business Times and Tina Hui, CEO & Founder of Follow the Coin served as judges.
The contest was the result of a partnership between Comerica Bank and RocketSpace to encourage further innovation in FinTech and empower entrepreneurs to fast-track their big idea.
"Startups are the lifeblood of innovation and are bringing new, game-changing products to market at breakneck speed," said Michele McConomy, VP and GM of Corporate Innovation Services at RocketSpace. "This contest was a celebration of entrepreneurship and addressed the critical foundation that any innovation team – whether you're a startup or global corporation – must have to transform an idea into a reality."
About Comerica Bank's Technology and Life Sciences Division
Comerica Bank's Technology and Life Sciences Division is one of the nation's leading technology banking practices, offering a wide range of financial services tailored to corporate customers, entrepreneurs and professionals. Veteran bankers provide credit and financial services and products to young, growing, venture backed technology and life sciences companies, as well as their more mature counterparts. The Technology and Life Sciences Division serves all major U.S. technology centers from offices coast-to-coast and its headquarters in Palo Alto, California as well as an office in Toronto, Canada. Comerica Bank is a subsidiary of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), a financial services company that is among the 25 largest U.S. banking companies. For more information, visit www.comerica.com.
Visit www.facebook.com/ComericaCares. Follow Comerica on Twitter at @ComericaCares.
About RocketSpace
RocketSpace is a technology campus located in the heart of San Francisco. Since 2011, the company has been helping tech entrepreneurs, startups and corporate innovation professionals bring the future to market. The company offers services to its members including programming, consulting, events, and office-as-a-service, which together create the perfect ecosystem and community for innovation to thrive. Select members and alumni include Uber, Spotify, Practice Fusion, Leap Motion, Domo, Accenture, Schneider Electric, Converse, British Airways, Goodyear, Tata Communications, Royal Bank of Scotland, Pfizer, Samsung, and AT&T. For more information, visit www.rocketspace.com.
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SOURCE Comerica Bank
