2023 Queens Tech + Innovation Challenge Winners

After the April 24 announcement at Resorts World New York City, QTIC winners stand with Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., Deputy Borough President Ebony Young, QEDC Executive Director Seth Bornstein, Resorts World Director of PR and Community Development Michelle Stoddart, Flushing Bank’s Ling Xu, Dwayne M. Andrews from Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates, and AT&T’s Timothy Tapia.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. and the Queens Economic De­velopment Corporation recently announced the five winning teams in the 2023 Queens Tech + Innovation Challenge. Each one gets $20,000 in seed funding.

QTIC is a multi-month competition for borough-based entrepreneurs in search of funding to either launch or grow their start­ups. Over its course, contestants took en­trepreneurial classes, participated in one-on-one office hours, and attended in-person events to develop their pitches. They also received technical assistance and training on such business topics as opera­tions, marketing, and financial statements, while also enjoying access to advice from experts. QTIC is a continuation of the Queens StartUP! Business Plan Competi­tion, which QEDC administered for the previous 16 years.

A total of 54 teams submitted applica­tions in five categories: Enterprise Tech; Consumer Tech; Urban Tech; Community; and Food. From this pool, first-round judges selected three finalists in each cate­gory for a total of 15. Then, several second-round judges chose one winner from each category.

The Consumer Tech victors are Gean Martinez and Alexander Miles of Break­thru, a learn-2-earn platform for youth to engage with companies. In Enterprise Tech, congratulations go to Jiahui Lu and Feargal O’Sullivan of Sales Slice, a software-as-a-service business that provides sales analyt­ics solutions to help companies increase revenue and optimize sales operations.

Cuthbert A. Onikute of DalO Systems, a B2B operations-and-logistics manage­ment tool for African small and medium enterprises with waste management as the beachhead market, is the Urban Tech champion; while Adrian Cepeda of The World’s Borough Bookshop, a Latino-owned vendor that celebrates and sells BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) books, took the honors in Commu­nity. The Food winner is Auria Abraham of Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen, a gourmet pantry brand that brings authentic Malaysian flavors to the modern kitchen.

“The winners we just announced are among the best and the brightest ‘The World’s Borough’ has to offer,” stated Bor­ough President Richards. “Thanks to the Queens Tech + Innovation Challenge, these entrepreneurs are getting a great opportu­nity to showcase their ideas and are receiv­ing crucial support to help them bring their ideas to fruition. I wish our winners and all those who competed in the Challenge all the best in their future endeavors, and I thank all of our partners in this effort for working together effectively to build a thriving technology economy in Queens.”

QEDC Executive Director Seth Born­stein added: “Congratulations to the win­ners, and I’d like to remind the finalists that they can try again next year. I’d also like to wholeheartedly thank Borough President Richards and his staffers for their time and expertise in creating this useful program. And last but not least, a hearty thanks to sponsors Resorts World New York City, Google, Flushing Bank, AT&T, Airbnb, JetBlue Ventures, Patrick Jenkins & Asso­ciates, and TechNYC.”

Founded in 1977, QEDC strives to cre­ate and retain jobs through programming that assists small businesses, encourages entrepreneurship, and promotes our com­munity with an emphasis on supporting those of low-to-moderate income, women, minorities, and immigrants.