Timeless App Wins Women Startup Challenge
On March 6, in New York City, ten women pitched their ideas for a chance to win $50,000 at the Women Startup Challenge, sponsored by Women Who Tech. This year’s theme Emerging Technology attracted a range of women from around the country who specialize in areas from the environment to law enforcement to healthcare. After reviewing all ten finalists’ pitches (three in healthcare,) the judges awarded the grand prize to 14 year old Emma Yang, creator of the Timeless app.
The goal of the Timeless app is to assist people with Alzheimer’s with day to day aspects of living that may get difficult for those who suffer from memory loss. Features such as daily calendars, photo stream that can be updated by friends and family, facial recognition and easy to access contact phone book can be programmed by a caregiver but then accessed and utilized by the loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s. The Timeless app uses Kairos an integrated face recognition service. Kairos allows the app to recognize faces both in photos and in real time. To watch Emma demonstrate how to use the Timeless app click here.
Emma Yang created Timeless as a 13 year old 8th grader. In 2016 she was named to two prestigious lists, both the 10 Under 20 Innovators to Watch in New York, (presented at CE Week @ceweekny) and Crain’s New York 20 Under 20 (@CrainsNewYork.) Emma is a Davidson Young Scholar, a mentee of the Wolfram Mentorship Program, and a member of both her school’s robotics team and Johns Hopkins University Julian C. Stanley Study of Exceptional Talent (SET.) She has participated in White House’s Opportunity Project and the Junior Academy of the New York Academy of Sciences. She is a classical pianist, fluent in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, and an author on the online Quiet Diaries.
Women Who Tech, the nonprofit started in 2008, has a mission “to bring together talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology to transform the world and inspire change.” Their goals are to break down the barriers for women in startups, advertise, promote and celebrate startups that are being led by women, get more of these companies funded and connect the women looking for money with the investors saying they want to fund female led startups. At this time, only 7% of all startup investor money goes to companies with women at the lead. The Women Startup Challenge is their competition and one of the largest pitch competitions for women led tech startup companies. Since 2015, the six Women Startup Challenges have awarded over $1 million in prizes, crowdfunded dollars and investments.
