Midtown's Monsieur Wins 2014 TAG Business Launch Competition

Patch Staff Report

The Technology Association of Georgia, Venture Atlanta, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber today announced that Monsieur, the developers of an artificially intelligent robotic bartender, is the winner of the 9th annual Business Launch Competition.

The Midtown-based company bested three other startups in the final round of a bracket competition held May 5th at the G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons on Georgia Tech’s Campus.

“We congratulate Monsieur and all of the companies who participated in this year’s extremely strong competition,” stated TAG President/CEO Tino Mantella in a news release. “We look forward to the growth and continued success of these companies and we thank all of our sponsors and volunteers who have made the TAG Business Launch Competition possible.”

Monsieur’s technology can be used at home or in commercial environments such as stadiums, arenas, restaurants and bars. As a result of the win, Monsieur will now receive $50,000, a spot in Venture Atlanta and more than $100,000 in donated services from the Atlanta business community to help them grow.

“The Business Launch is an important competition for Georgia's technology community”, said Venture Atlanta’s Executive Director Allyson Eman in the release. “Venture Atlanta was proud to be a larger supporter of the event this year and is pleased to have an excellent company like Monsieur on stage this October. We look forward to another banner year in 2015”.

Three other TAG Business Launch finalists will split the more than $200,000 in remaining pro bono services, including legal counsel, professional consulting, marketing, software and even real estate space. 

These finalists include:

· Cooleaf- mobile employee engagement platform

· Keyp-an endpoint-to-endpoint encryption solution

· Partpic- Visual Search Technology provider

"The TAG Business Launch competition is a great example of the entrepreneurial vibe in Atlanta," said Katie Kirkpatrick, senior vice president of Policy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. "The competition highlights some of the upcoming companies that are making their mark on Atlanta's start-up scene."

Since it was founded in 2006, the TAG Business Launch Competition has become one of largest competitions of its kind in the United States, providing $500,000 in cash and over $1,500,000 in donated services to more than 200 young entrepreneurs.

Applicants are screened by an experienced panel of entrepreneurs and the most promising companies are assigned a mentor for the duration of the competition. Representatives from out-of-state venture capital companies sit on the judge’s panel and a multitude of angel and venture capital investors attend the final event.