Finding the best answers to big problems can mean looking to an outside party with bright ideas. The trouble is finding those fixes immediately. New York’s ChallengePost, a Web-based platform for running competitions, gives organizations and individuals a way to attract contenders who think they have got the right stuff.
Brandon Kessler, CEO of ChallengePost, says he created the three-year-old startup to be a central place for community groups, government agencies, companies, and others to call attention to issues they want help resolving. Users of ChallengePost include First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to improve school lunches and the World Bank, which shared data with developers via the platform in an attempt to help meet United Nations Millennium Developmental Goals such as fighting disease and poverty. “Large organizations use our platform to solve big problems through technology,” Kessler says.
New funding from investors is helping ChallengePost meet some of its own goals. Kessler says the company raised $4.1 million in a series A round, announced Tuesday, led by Opus Capital. Other participants in the round include
