Five area startups headed to pitch competition

Five area startups will make the pitch of their young lives in the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s fourth annual Pressure Chamber competition on Aug. 21 at the Overture Center. The winner will earn a trip to California in October to pitch to Silicon Valley investment firms.

The five finalists are: Cardigan, a business card exchange app; Curate, which uses artificial intelligence to scan public meeting data to give construction firms early data on developing projects; DotCom Therapy, online speech therapy for children using live videoconferencing; SimpleMachines, producing next-generation programmable computer chips for data centers; and Third Space, business software to solve internal communication and employee engagement issues.