Extreme Tech Challenge + Head Judge Richard Branson Crown BLOOM TECHNOLOGIES Winner of XTC 2016

The feverish race to Necker Island culminated with the long-awaited and highly anticipated announcement of the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) 2016 Winner. Congratulations to XTC 2016 Winner Bloom Technologies!

Necker Island, British Virgin Islands (PRWEB) February 15, 2016

The feverish race to Necker Island culminated with the long-awaited and highly anticipated announcement of the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) 2016 Winner. Congratulations to XTC 2016 Winner Bloom Technologies!

First Place Winner Bloom Technologies brings the latest in prenatal technology straight to the mother's fingertips, simplifying the journey for expectant parents everywhere. By crowdsourcing the largest and most comprehensive dataset on prenatal health, Bloom Technologies has created a way to better predict and manage preterm birth. Bloom Technologies' wearable smart device for mothers-to-be to wear during their third trimester helps the mother better understand how her body is preparing for labor and easily tracks the progression once labor has begun.

XTC 2016 champion Bloom Technologies was chosen with careful consideration during a rigorous voting process by a seasoned panel of investors, spearheaded by special guest judge Sir Richard Branson, who played host to the final round of competition at his Necker Island estate. A fierce competition to the very end, XTC mobilises world class entrepreneurs with products demonstrating emerging market acceptance to showcase their cutting-edge innovation. The contest is designed to provide winners with broader audience to gain new customers, valuable infrastructure to scale at low incremental cost, and exposure to a network of world class advisors to help them turn product success into business success.

Redefining how we share what we see to the world, Second Place winner Giroptic has brought to market a patented, lightweight, easy to use 360 degree capture device that produces immersive video and images in real-time. Users can share spherical video or images to social media sites such as Facebook and allow their friends to see in 360 degrees simply by panning and tilting their phones to see in all directions.

World-renowned company behind Star Wars' beloved droid BB8, Third Place winner Sphero is redefining how people learn through play utilizing consumer friendly connected devices. Among their most popular products are smartphone controlled consumer robots such as the BB8. Coming soon will be "The Force" which utilizes a wristband controller, allowing people to control their devices through motion based gestures.

Narrowed down from a pool of thousands of applicants, the Top 25 contestants were unveiled late last fall in San Francisco, directly preceding the announcement of the Top 10 Semi-Finalists which was formally revealed via live broadcast on the Bay Area NBC affiliate station NBC4 Monday November 29th. From there, Semi-Finalists pitched their endeavors to a panel hosted at CES 2016, the world's largest Consumer Electronic Showcase in Las Vegas - an event broadcasted worldwide January 8th, 2016.

Extreme Tech Challenge returns in 2017 for another fast-paced race to Necker Island! Looking to join the challenge? Applications to enter the competition are now open. Register here for your chance to win guidance, investment, and infrastructure from technological luminaries from around the globe, and a trip to the 2017 Finals at Necker Island.

As the second Extreme Tech Challenge comes to a close, Sir Richard Branson remarks on the difficulty in choosing a winner considering the caliber of each contestant's submission:

"Bloom… obviously I'm a grandfather, I'm a father. We had 3 men up there, two women (on the judging panel), and a lot of us have had children and grandchildren and what Bloom is doing is potentially revolutionary and if they can get the final FDA it will be absolutely astounding and could save many, many, many lives… So, Bloom was definitely very high on the list. By the way, all 3 came within a point of each other in the written vote and so it was one of those very difficult ones. The Giroptic's is extraordinary as well. And the technology is absolutely brilliant. …I think it's absolutely going to transform camera technology. ...The fact that you can get 360 degrees without editing is astounding. With most of it, it takes hours and hours and hours to edit. So you come back, let's say, from a kite trip, and you've got that 360 degree footage, the way you can use it inside to monitor your homes…there are just so many uses to put it to.

XTC co-creator Bill Tai , remarked "It's incredible to see the quality of companies and innovation encapsulated in the XTC contestants each year. This year's finalists are leading the way in how we use connected devices in such innovative ways -- from how we monitor the the health of our babies through Bloom, how we communicate through Giroptic and how we learn and play with products from Sphero. What more could we ask for? "

MaiTai Global would like to Congratulate each of the XTC 2016 Participants -- Thank You!

The Extreme Tech Challenge is presented by MaiTai Global, a collective of the world's brightest entrepreneurs and innovators who celebrate revolutionary advances in technology, bond over their shared affinity for extreme sports and community. Partners of MaiTai combine their network to encourage professional success, personal growth and philanthropic initiatives across the globe.

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