Semifinalists of America250’s nationwide contest, which aimed to bring together the country’s future innovators, gathered in San Mateo. The competition was created by America250, a non-partisan group created by Congress to honor the country’s 250th anniversary. “This is an exciting opp ortunity for them to not just validate what they’re doing but also hear from people who have done it already and really inspire them,” said Rosie Rios, chair of America250. Rios said the goal of America’s Startup was to highlight the next generation of innovators. The best and brightest were invited to submit proposals, and now semifinalists will pitch their ideas to some of the Silicon Valley’s biggest names this weekend. “They are getting ready for a full weekend of activities, including pitching to these top judges that include Chris Larsen the chair of Ripple, Sarah Friar, the CFO of OpenAI and Naveen Jain, a serial entrepreneur, Tim Draper, of course, who put the star in startup and they get be the judges to get down to the final ten winners each of whom will receive $25,000 in non-dilutive grant funding,” Rios said. Christie Smith has the full report in the video player above. ...read more read less