CoTripper takes first place at 2019 Startup Week DC pitch competition

Five startups hit the stage to pitch their ventures at DC Startup Week’s own pitch competition on Friday, Sept. 13.

The fourth annual pitch event concluded the weeklong event series and was held at the The Hatchery, an AARP Innovation Lab. The crowd heard pitches from these participating companies:

• Please Assist Me
• KoinStreet
• Mully Lingua
• CoTripper
• Tabitha

All of the participating companies received a consultation with GSP Financial, a complimentary two-month hot desk membership at WeWork, a legal consultation from NEXT powered by Shulman Rodgers and pitch coaching from AARP.

Krystin Hargrove from CoTripper took first place. The tech company curates an all-in-one community and travel booking platform for single-mother families.

Drumroll please…the winner of the Pitch Competition is…Krystin Hargrove and @cotripper!! Congratulations Krystin & thank you to all of the contestants!

@aarpilabs #aarpilabs @ServeDC #c3servedc #servedc #dcstartupweek #dcsw2019 pic.twitter.com/tuEdNmDJOi

— DC Startup Week (@DCstartupweek) September 13, 2019

In addition to the other prizes, CoTripper received a $1,000 cash prize and a two-hour consultation with IRL Agency. Hargrove, who is a single mother herself, impressed the panel of judges with her presentation on booking family travel plans as a single parent. With CoTripper, single mothers can create custom travel experiences through the company’s pre-planned trips.

Co-pitcher Stephanie Cummings, founder of Please Assist Me, had a heck of a winning week herself: She took home $20,000 at the Vinetta Project final on Thursday and $25,000 at the HERImpact DC pitch competition on Wednesday.

DC Startup Week organizer Rachel Koretsky told Technical.ly that this year’s event series was the largest one yet, bringing in nearly 7,000 attendees. She already has bigger plans to make the fifth annual DC Startup Week even better.

“Seeing the community coming together across six days to support and learn from each other,” Koresky said, “next year, I am going to look for larger venues that can hold more people where we can have multiple sessions going on in one place.”