BOSTON—Surgicure Technologies Founder & CEO Irena King has won the 2024 TiE Boston Women Pitch Competition, TiE Boston announced. The competition was held at the EY offices in Boston.
Ms.King, who won the first prize, will go on to represent TiE Boston at the TiE Women Global Pitch Competition in Bangalore, India. The other winners of the event were Ananya Zutshi, Co-Founder & CEO of Guardian Bio in second place; and Rachel Zayas, Founder & CEO of AGED Diagnostics, took third place.
“I am absolutely thrilled and honored to be the winner of the competition, especially alongside such a fantastic group of women. This recognition truly validates Surgicure’s perseverance and vision for revolutionizing airway management safety on a global scale. A huge thank you to the TiE Boston community for their continued support—your encouragement over the last year has been invaluable and we look forward to continuing our journey together,” said Ms. King.
In an exciting live event, the TiE Boston Women’s Pitch Competition gave the floor to six female founders/co-founders to pitch for a chance to compete for prizes as well as the opportunity to compete in the TiE Women Global Pitch Competition in December 2024. For the winner, Ms. King, TiE Boston’s competition will prove as just one stop in the road map to compete in the TiE Women Global Pitch Competition in Bangalore in December.
“The amazing line-up of women owned startups this year truly is a testament to the untapped reservoir of potential. Of all the top participants for the finals, it was a very tough decision to have to pick only the top winner, when the very esteemed judges say matter of factly, no matter who wins, all of them will be successful,” said Sunita Kanchinadam, the 2024 Chair of the TiE Boston Women Pitch Competition.
TiE Boston President, Purnanand Sarma added: “Each finalist took the floor to deliver a concise pitch, packed with energy and innovation, to impress upon the Judges of the competition.”
The judges of the competition were: Sangeeta Moorjani, EVP, Fidelity Investments; Ann Dewitt, General Partner, Engine Ventures; Stacey Messier, General Manager, Cambridge Innovation Centre; and Pratima Abichandani, Executive in Residence, Babson College Fund.
The contestants fielded tough questions to paint a full picture of their startups. From dollar opportunity to exit strategies, the seven participants were put in the hot seat for Q&A after each pitch to ensure the judges could make a calculated and informed decision in selecting the winner.
TiE Boston Women’s Pitch Competition sponsors was the Subu Kota Foundation. The event was hosted by EY Boston.
The following women founders competed in the 2024 TiE Boston Women Pitch Competition:
- Ananya Zutshi, Co-Founder and CEO, Guardian Bio;
- Irena King, Founder & CEO, Surgicure Technologies, Inc.;
- Rachel Zayas, Founder & CEO, AGED Diagnostics;
- Rashmi Agrawal, Co-Founder & CTO, CipherSonic Labs;
- Safia Rizvi, CEO, CILA Therapeutics;
- Sarah Ostadabbas, Founder & CEO, AiWover.
For more information about TiE Boston, visit https://www.tieboston.org/.
Founded in 1997, TiE Boston connects tomorrow’s founders with today’s entrepreneurs, executives, and venture capitalists. Operating for 27 years now, TiE Boston’s unparalleled network of successful, serial entrepreneurs are deeply engaged and committed to giving back to the community by providing mentorship, tactical advice, and expertise to rising entrepreneurs through signature programs. TiE is the world’s largest not-for-profit network dedicated to helping startups grow. This ecosystem was established more than 30 years ago, rapidly expanding the TiE Network to 16,000 members across multiple countries and contributed to $250 billion in wealth creation. TiE Chapters around the world have become a vibrant platform for entrepreneurs, professionals, industry leaders, and investors to interact with one another & forge long-lasting relationships. For more information about TiE Boston, visit https://www.tieboston.org/
