Simplifi wins 1776 Challenge Cup regional

Student debt management startup Simplifi won the 1776 New York Challenge Cup pitch competition put on by incubator 1776 at its Brooklyn Navy Yard space Thursday night.

The young company beat out 16 other startups and will move on to the global Challenge Cup finals in November, where it will go up against companies from around the world.

Congrats to #1776Challenge NYC winner Simplifi! Incredible group of startups made it tough to choose. Thanks to all. pic.twitter.com/1eKrKbO4Rl

— Rachel Sterne Haot (@rachelhaot) August 4, 2017

Simplifi was founded by Will Sealy, a recently graduated MBA from the Yale School of Management. Prior to that he worked as a student loan policy advisor at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“Our platform will provide essential resources including a personalized loan payment dashboard, payment notifications, student loan policy updates, and guides to explain repayment plans and confusing terms,” according to the company. “Through these tools as well as sophisticated algorithms, we will save borrowers thousands of dollars and hours of headache by helping them through the process every step of the way.”

Thank you @1776NY & others for a great evening of sharing innovative ideas 💡 rethinking highly regulated industries pic.twitter.com/hemxrxksfI

— Ginkgo (@Ginkgocity) August 4, 2017

The Challenge Cup is a yearly pitch competition 1776 organizes. Startups from industries which have a high barrier to entry or which are heavily regulated, such as government and green tech. Several current and past members of 1776 participated in the competition, including Agrilyst, Re-Nuble and Benefit Kitchen.

This year’s host was Dan Primack, the founder of tech news site Axios.