Of the nearly 150 video pitches from Maryland entrepreneurs that were captured during its three-week Pitch Across Maryland tour and celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship, Startup Maryland has announced the Fan Favorites in two categories — Most Viewed and Most Social.

While in the past the Fan Favorite category traditionally highlighted the top three Most Viewed videos, this year the Startup Maryland team decided also to highlight the startups that demonstrated consistent social engagement throughout the month since the tour concluded. The startups that embodied these efforts and outcomes are listed below, with the URL to their pitch video.

Fan Favorites – Most Viewed:

Fan Favorites – Most Social:

A second competition was held to determine the Great Eight Finalists, which are the eight finalist companies that received invitations to the annual Maryland Technology and Development Corp. (TEDCO) Entrepreneur Expo, which was held on Nov. 17. At the Expo, the finalists were given the opportunity to present a more comprehensive pitch of their venture and opportunity during the “Pitching Mound” segment of the event. They are as follows:

  • Admit.me
  • Breezio
  • Class Tracks
  • Graftworx
  • Kera Biotech
  • Motorbriiz
  • Shared Lending
  • Sickweather

“Our review panel had a very challenging time winnowing the Pitch Across Maryland field to only eight finalists this year,” said Michael Binko, founder and CEO of Startup Maryland. “The word is out, and our tour stop partners really brought their A-game in helping identify and encourage strong startups to participate in this year’s tour.”

Separately, TEDCO will select up to two of the finalists to be catapulted directly to a Technology Commercialization Fund or Cybersecurity Innovation Fund $100,000 investment pitch. These selected finalists will have to submit a TEDCO-compliant application for evaluation. To link all Pitch Across Maryland playlists, go to www.youtube.com/user/StartupMaryland/playlists?sort=dd&view=1.