Two weeks ago, the 2016 MN Cup came to a close at the University of Minnesota's McNamara Alumni Center. For Vugo, it was the end of a two-year run in the competition, and a good moment to look back on it.

2015: the first try

The MN Cup is the largest statewide startup competition in the country, run by the University of Minnesota. In 2015, its 11th year, more than 1,300 applicants were narrowed to 70 semi-finalists across six divisions. We were one of them, in the High-Tech Division, under our first name, Viewswagen. The description that ran with our name that June: relevant, real-time ads inside rideshare vehicles.

We didn't make the finals that year. But only a few months after we left Chicago for Minnesota to launch, it put us in front of Minnesota's startup community.

2016: all the way through

We came back as Vugo, with a year of building behind us and our beta out on the road: screens in rideshare cars, free entertainment for riders with advertising mixed in, and extra income for the drivers. In June, we were again one of ten High Tech semi-finalists. In August, we were one of three finalists, with Sezzle and Token of Trust.

On August 30, the judges named Vugo the winner of the High-Tech Division. Their choice matched the reader vote TECHdotMN ran that weekend, which drew more than a thousand votes. The win came with $30,000 in seed capital. Sezzle was runner-up.

After the win, our co-founder James Bellefeuille put it this way: "It takes a strong community to build great startups that become great companies."

Awards night

On September 22, the eight division winners came together at the 12th annual MN Cup awards celebration, all in the running for the $50,000 grand prize. It went to StemoniX, the Life Science and Health IT winner, for its work on stem cell-based drug screening. Congratulations to them, and to every finalist. The 2016 competition drew a record number of entrants, and more than 11,000 Minnesotans have taken part since the MN Cup began in 2005.

Thank you

Thank you to the MN Cup team, the judges, the mentors and the volunteers, and to everyone who voted. We chose Minnesota to build this company, and the MN Cup is a big part of why that choice keeps looking right.

Read the announcements from 2015 and 2016, what we learned from our 2016 beta, or get in touch.