The winner of the fiercely contested UNLEASH Startup Award has been decided for 2024!

Five startups took to the stage to present their pitch to the judging panel and faced questions from the crowd in a bid to join the illustrious ranks of former winners, which includes Peakon (now part of Workday), Oneteam, Talent Alpha, Clustree, TandemHR and last year’s champion, Hour One.

But, as always, there could only be one winner and in Las Vegas this year, that honor went to Manifest, the first-ever digital transfer solution for retirement accounts.

Chicago-based Manifest wowed the judges with its pitch, delivered by CEO Anuraag Tripathi, who was presented with the grand prize of $50,000 worth of future sponsorship opportunity with UNLEASH, by Managing Director Elliot Thomas and Startup and Investor Program Lead Kennedy Cook.

Speaking to UNLEASH in the aftermath of their victory, Tripathi said: “Manifest is the first and only plan-to-plan consolidation tool ever in the market, so winning the UNLEASH Startup Award means a lot to us. It will help us connect to the audience that we’re reaching out to, and in getting our message out there.

“We are super grateful for the opportunity to present our story to a broader audience.”

A huge congratulations to Manifest and, of course, all of the finalists this year – Chezuba, Welliba, Juicebox and Taiwa.

Commenting on the awards, judging chair Rebecca Carr, Interim CEO and Chief Product Officer at SmartRecruiters, said this year’s iteration included “some of the best presenters and ideas that I have seen in a very long time.”

“Especially in a market like this one where there is a lot of innovation and point solutions; it’s hard to stand out,” she told UNLEASH.

“Our winner, Manifest, stood out to me almost immediately. Not just in terms of how compelling the pitch was, but the idea itself being something that is truly unique and, frankly, accessible to companies and employees in a moment where cost and spend is tight in these organizations.

“So being able to bring those types of services to companies at low cost, if not free, and still deliver the type of value and impact that the Manifest team is describing is truly incredible.”

Congratulations Manifest from the UNLEASH team!