The Monterey Bay community is invited to join us for a public event to showcase all of the finalists from this year’s Startup Challenge Monterey Bay competition.

Attendees will have the chance to meet the 25 finalists during the Venture Showcase, vote for Crowd Favorite, enjoy refreshments, and tune in for the awards ceremony!

The Startup Challenge Monterey Bay is an annual new business competition for entrepreneurs in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties. Prospective entrepreneurs, startups, and emerging companies showcase their ideas and business concepts, receive helpful advice from mentors, and compete for over $32,000 in prizes.

This event is open to the public; prior registration is required. There will be an award presentation in addition to refreshments provided.

Startup Challenge Monterey Bay is the premier competitive startup competition for new businesses across Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties, with a mission to provide a platform for visibility, connections and funding to local entrepreneurs and offer them the tools they need to succeed in the marketplace.

The Startup Challenge began in 2010 as the Monterey Bay Regional Business Plan Competition, and was created by the Marina Tech Cluster, a business incubator located at the MBEST Center in Marina. When the Marina Tech Cluster closed in 2013, the Challenge moved to its current home at the Institute for Innovation & Economic Development (iiED) in the College of Business at CSUMB.

Over the past 12 years, the Challenge has provided a launch pad for a variety of businesses across the Central Coast. Since 2010, over 840 businesses have entered the Challenge. Past finalists include Yoderm (now Apostrophe), Cruz Foam, HeavyConnect, infiniRel, New Wave Programs, Monterey Bay Moves, Nece’s Gluten Free Baked Goods in Monterey, New Bohemian Brewing Company in Santa Cruz, Open Ground Studios in Seaside, and the Carmel Honey Company in Carmel and Monterey.

1. Masks must be worn indoors by all attendees at all times except for as provided below including walking around the venue and in the bathrooms.

2. Use of KN95 or N95 masks are recommended. Cloth masks and three-ply medical masks are not a sufficient and acceptable level of protection for use indoors at CSUMB any longer.

3. Removal of masks for consumption of food and beverage indoors requires attendees to be seated at a 72” round or equivalent table.

4. Panelists may remove their masks when speaking at the mic.

5. All event attendees must pre-register for the event. Information gathered during pre-registration will be used for check-in at the event. Changes in attendee(s) must be communicated in advance or captured at the on-site check-in.

6. Pre-registration information to be gathered on attendees includes, at a minimum, first and last name, a valid email address, and cell phone number. Attendee registration information (whether gathered through pre- or on-site registration) will be kept for a minimum of 30 days by the event organizer. The information gathered is for contact tracing purposes and must be provided to the appropriate COVID stakeholders upon request.

7. All attendees are encouraged to review campus-wide COVID information in advance of attendance. That information can be found at https://csumb.edu/health/coronavirus-information/.

8. All attendees must complete a self-evaluation and agree to be bound by the self-attestation verbiage during the registration process or prior to attending the event. The self-attestation link can be found here.

9. Please note: due to the changing health environment, mask requirements may be modified at any time. All campus staff, students and guests are required to follow the established mask requirements posted on each building.