12 Finalists for 4th Annual Digital Entertainment World (DEW) Startup Competition Announced

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - January 19, 2017) - Digital Media Wire's 4th annual Digital Entertainment World (DEW) today announced the 12 finalists for its Startup Competition. Taking place on February 2 as part of a two-day, content-rich conference for video, entertainment, music and technology executives, DEW recognizes the most innovative global startups through a highly competitive pitch competition.

Sponsored by IDG Ventures, Rackspace Startups and Gerard Fox Law, the DEW Startup Competition recognizes innovative startups with digital entertainment technologies and services. The 12 finalists compete in a live competition before top digital investors.

The winner receives a prize package valued at more than $50,000, including one year of free premium hosting services on Rackspace, an exhibitor package with 4 all-access registrations, an invitation to the San Francisco office of IDG Ventures for a two-hour consultation with senior partners of the firm as well as legal services from Gerard Fox Law.

"As the premier conference for digital entertainment innovation, DEW recognizes the importance of the startup ecosystem to the future of digital entertainment," said Ned Sherman, DEW Chairman and DMW CEO. "The competition allows participants valuable exposure to digital, entertainment and technology investor communities."

This year's finalists are:

Dot Blockchain Music
Dot Blockchain Music. ("dotBC") is developing a new technology architecture and applications to modernize digital music files, the digital music supply chain, rights ownership information, and payment processing.
http://dotblockchainmusic.com

Core Rights
Core Rights is the future of IP/music licensing -- now. Core Rights creates digital marketplaces that power entire country and customer licensing needs.
www.corerights.com

NPREX
NPREX (National Performing Rights Exchange) is the first online "exchange" for direct licensing of public performance rights between music owners and music users (broadcasters, streaming services, etc.).
www.nprex.com

Grey Jean Technologies
Grey Jean Technologies is a predictive personalization company that improves customer acquisition and sales across all channels.
http://gjny.com

Maestro
Maestro is targeting a very specific customer segment of broadcasters; businesses who have become broadcasters over the last few years as they've started to introduce live streaming into their marketing mix.
http://info.maestro.io/

VRTIFY
VRTIFY's revolutionary technology provides music fans a new way to experience their favorite music through the immersive power of Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MxR).
www.vrtify.com

Pilotly
Pilotly enables media publishers to run digital focus groups at scale with precise audience segmentation.
http://business.pilot.ly

Xylo
Xylo allows users to create multi-track music videos, instantly edit with a touch of a button, add filters and effects, then share on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and more.
www.xylo.com

Guru
Guru partners with cultural institutions (museums, zoos, aquariums, etc) to enhance the visitor experience through location aware mobile apps, cutting edge AR/VR technology and riveting content.
www.theguru.co

Sceenic
Sceenic's Watch Together software is the 1st B2B immersive solution for co-viewing TV and OTT together with your friends via face to face video.
www.sceenic.co

Wonda VR
Wonda VR makes it easy for content creators and brands to create and share highly engaging VR Video experiences on any VR platforms.
http://www.wondavr.com

Pivotshare
Pivotshare is the world's leading open subscription video network. Pivotshare technology lets anyone create their own branded channel or syndicate their content to existing channels.
www.pivotshare.com

The 2017 judges include:

• Andrew Farage, Digital Media & Investments, New Media Ventures, United Talent Agency
• Alex Morrison, VP Managing Director, Content Studio, R/GA
• Clinton Foy, Managing Director, CrossCut Ventures
• Richard Jun, Managing Partner, Bam Ventures
• Pat Kenealy, Managing Director, IDG Ventures USA
• Bernard Moon, Co-founder & General Partner, SparkLabs Global Ventures
• Itay Rahat, Director, Digital & CRM Global Product Management, Warner Music Group
• Peter Brack, Entrepreneur & Investor, Mucker Capital
• Sean Branagan, Director, Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship, Syracuse University
• Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors
• Francis Pollara, Venture Associate & Investor, Luma Launch
• Cecily Mak, Chief Revenue Officer & General Counsel, Flipboard
• Morgan Pietz, Of Counsel, Gerard Fox Law
• Brandon Leopoldus, Of Counsel, Gerard Fox Law
• Kuni Takahashi, SVP of Corporate & Business Development, Rumblefish
• Karen Allen, Principal, Karen Allen Consulting
• Steve Bradbury, President & Head Coach, Deep Sports

This year's event will be held at the Marriott Marina Del Rey in Los Angeles, Feb. 1-2, 2017, and focuses on "Driving the Future of Connected Entertainment."

To register, please go to http://www.dewexpo.com/registration.

About Digital Entertainment World:
Digital Entertainment World is the must attend B2B event and marketplace for global media and technology executives to evaluate the digital media landscape. For more information, please visit www.dewexpo.com.