Every year, News’s Startup Battlefield pitch contest draws thousands of applicants. We whittle those applications down to the top 200 contenders, and of them, the top 20 compete on the big stage to become the winner, taking home the Startup Battlefield Cup and a cash prize of $100,000. But the remaining 180 startups all blew us away as well in their respective categories and compete in their own pitch competition.
Here is the full list of the government and legal Startup Battlefield 200 selectees, along with a note on why they landed in the competition.
Aparti
What it does: Uses AI to automate legal intake forms, as well as other documents, for family law firms.
Why it’s noteworthy: It specializes in, at the moment, divorce cases, which means it is tackling an issue not commonly addressed by the current wave of AI legal tech.
Ascender
What it does: Ascender has created a robot that can climb utility poles and flagpoles to help assist with humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
Why it’s noteworthy: Part of the wave of robotic technology that is emerging to help better address disaster situations.
Bot Mediation
What it does: Bot Mediation uses AI to help settle legal disputes.
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Why it’s noteworthy: Another interesting use case in legal AI, this time to help make the mediation and dispute process more efficient.
Depth AI
What it does: Depth AI creates AI for spatial computing, building modeling such as holographic imaging that can be used in healthcare to create 3D images of the body for diagnosing illness.
Why it’s noteworthy: It’s a technology that is looking to make the healthcare industry better, which is always good.
ILias AI
What it does: ILias is working in “scent tech” — using AI to help create olfactory technology that can help, for example, dogs detect the smell of drugs.
Why it’s noteworthy: It’s using olfactory senses to create a product, which is not something commonly done, especially when it comes to using it in a way that relates to technological innovation.
JustiGuide
What it does: JustiGuide connects immigrants with lawyers and tools to help make the immigration process more efficient.
Why it’s noteworthy: Winner of the policy and protection pitch stage at Disrupt this year, this is an always timely product addressing the painstaking and often tedious process of immigration.
Orchestra
What it does: Orchestra created a camera network to manage public safety and detect crime.
Why it’s noteworthy: It’s a modern take on the security network system that has been around for decades.
Ponderosa AI
What it does: Ponderosa uses drones that can help detect and control small fires.
Why it’s noteworthy: Fires can quickly become out of control and cause catastrophic damage, so any technology helping to mitigate that risk is very timely.
Pytho AI
What it does: Pytho hopes to make the planning process more efficient for warfighters on the battlefield.
Why it’s noteworthy: Battlefield innovation is always an interesting and curious area.
Shothawk AI
What it does: Created a device that helps track, detect, and subdue active shooters with pepper gel. It was founded in 2023 by Brandon Johnson, Ohm Vyas, and Ved Vyas.
Why it’s noteworthy: Innovation that is addressing the rising rate of gun crime happening in public places, such as schools and supermarkets, with the hopes of doing something about it.
Torch Systems
What it does: Torch monitors high-value assets, assessing air quality, fire risks, and security to hopefully help prevent wildfires early.
Why it’s noteworthy: As climate change leads to more devastating wildfires, any innovation helping to make such catastrophic events less disastrous is always good.
