Silicon Valley is getting dressed up tonight to celebrate startups, their founders and CEOs, VCs and angels, and the products they make during our 9th Annual Crunchies awards show at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. Tonight’s show is hosted by comedian Chelsea Peretti.
After an open nomination process, the members of our Crunchies board put in their votes for the finalists over the last few weeks and tonight we’ll announce the winners.
Some of the categories on the list include “Best Technology Achievement,” “Best New Startup,” “Best CEO,” “Best Hardware,” “Best Social Impact” and more. For the first time this year, we also have the Include Diversity Award.
The show starts at 8pm Pacific and you can watch the live stream here [link], and we’ll keep a running tab of all the winners in the list below.
We will update this post throughout the evening.
Congratulations to all our winners!
Fastest Rising Startup
Winner: Slack
Slack is a team communication and sharing app that is trying to help change the way we work. It features real-time communication and collaboration tools, letting users collaborate and share files easily. And, everything shared is searchable to team members can always find what they need, when they need it.
Also nominated were: Postmates (runner-up), TransferWise, YouNow, and Zenefits.
Founder Of The Year
Winner: Stewart Butterfield
Stewart Butterfield set out to change the way colleagues communicate when he co-founded Slack in 2013. The popular team communication tool has drawn the attention of a number of investors, including Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures and Social Capital, and raised $340 million. The Slack boss, who recently discussed his company’s plans for an IPO, is also popular among his staff. He penned an internal note explaining why he closed the office on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Also nominated were: Jessica Livingston, Natalie Massenet, Tristan Walker (runner-up), and Anne Wojcicki.
Include Diversity Award
Winner: Kimberly Bryant, Black Girls Code
As founder and CEO of Blacks Girls Code, Kimberly Bryant is on a mission to change the face of technology by introducing girls from underrepresented communities to coding. Black Girls Code does this through a series of workshops, hackathons and summer camps. Now in its third year, Black Girls Code has reached over 3,000 girls. Through Black Girls Code, Bryant hopes to teach 1 million girls across the world how to code by 2040.
Also nominated were: Erica Baker; Joelle Emerson, Paradigm; Laura Weidman Powers (runner-up), Code2040; Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Trans*H4CK
Hardware Of The Year
Winner: Samsung Gear VR
Samsung launched the second generation of the Gear VR virtual reality headset in November for $99. The slimmed-down version of the Gear VR weighs just 0.62 pounds, and it’s compatible with a wide array of Samsung’s current and previous lineup of smartphones and phablets so more users can partake in the Gear VR experience. You can read Drew’s hands-on with Gear VR here.
Also nominated were: Apple Pencil, Devialet Phantom speaker, Parrot Bebop, Sphero BB-8 (runner-up).
VC Of The Year
Winner: Bill Gurley
Bill Gurley is a partner at Benchmark and famous for his “doom and gloom” punditry about the impending startup bubble. He regularly rails against startups buying Kind Bars and other such office luxuries with their VC dollars instead of saving up for end times. Gurley is also considered to be a top deal maker in Silicon Valley, investing early in Uber, Zillow and a number of other successful companies.
Also nominated were: Marc Andreessen, Sonali De Rycker,, Mary Meeker, and Chamath Palihapitiya (runner-up).
Best New Startup
Winner: Honor
Looking to help deliver healthcare to the aging population, Honor is a service that provides on-demand caregivers to help with things like medication reminders, meal preparation, transportation and companionship to those in need.
Also nominated were: Eaze, Jet, Operator, Robinhood (runner-up).
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