Beaufort, South Carolina - Beaufort Digital Corridor's Techstars Startup Weekend event, held on March 24-26, 2023, was a resounding success. The event brought together students, teachers, entrepreneurs, designers, developers, and other professionals to collaborate and develop new startup ideas. Over the course of the weekend, teams worked tirelessly to create innovative solutions to modern problems, resulting in the development of several promising startups.

First place was awarded to Garnish, an app that generates AI optimized restaurant menu photos for Food Delivery apps like GrubHub to improve user submitted photos, user experience and to increase ROI for restaurant sales. The proposed app would leverage the latest in AI technology to produce stunning images of restaurant dishes, ensuring that users get the best possible visual representation of what they're ordering. The Garnish team's dedication and hard work resulted in a well-deserved victory and promises to shake up the food delivery industry. Garnish was led by University of South Carolina Beaufort student and artist Tatiana Zalapskaia who shared her thoughts on the event, saying "I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with such a talented team and showcase our innovative solution. It's an honor to have been recognized by the judges and I'm excited to continue developing Garnish to revolutionize the food delivery industry. I had no previous experience, but we made a killer pitch thanks to the mentorship of people who have started international companies before. I'm humbled and honored that these people offered me their expertise and believe in my idea. If you're an idea person, if you crave something bigger, if you want to change your community for better, I feel that Techstars is for you."

Coming in a close second was the team led by Technical College of the Lowcountry professor Angel Kern, who pitched "Cyber Hygiene", a cyber security related SaaS that would target banks for consumer cyber hygiene check-ups. In today's digital age, cyber security is more important than ever, and Cyber Hygiene offers a valuable solution to an urgent problem. With a dedicated team of professionals and innovative technology at their disposal, Cyber Hygiene is poised for success.

"We are thrilled with the success of this year's Techstars Startup Weekend event," said Beaufort Digital Corridor Executive Director, Jess O'Brien. "The level of talent and creativity on display was truly inspiring, and we're excited to see what these startups will achieve in the future."

About Beaufort Digital Corridor:

The Beaufort Digital Corridor is a community-sourced initiative to attract, nurture, and promote Beaufort's technology and knowledge-based economy. Beaufort Digital Corridor connects and promotes the region's tech economy through an array of programs, events, and other resources designed to help entrepreneurs and businesses grow and thrive.

For more information, please visit www.beaufortdigital.com.