Continuus Pharma Finalist in MassChallenge Accelerator 2013

MassChallenge on Wednesday named 128 finalist teams for 2013, the fourth year for the Boston-based startup accelerator and competition.

The teams include 36 in high tech; 32 in health care and life sciences; 21 in social impact; 11 in energy and cleantech; and 28 in the general category.

Finalists this year include 3dim, a startup developing software which recognizes three-dimensional gestures on mobile devices, which won the MIT $100K competition this month; Tauros Engineering, which has developed technology for the detection of harmful bridge scour and was a top winner in Harvard Business School's New Venture Competition last month; and CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals, which is working to enable on-demand manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, leveraging expertise from the Novartis-­MIT Center for Continuous Manufacturing.

The number of teams accepted into MassChallenge increased to 128 this year — from 125 in previous years — "as a tribute to Route 128," the accelerator said in a news release. The program received about 1,200 applications this year.

The finalist teams will receive mentorship and office space at the MassChallenge office in the South Boston Seaport for four months, and ultimately compete for $1 million in cash awards. This year's accelerator will begin June 25 and conclude Oct. 30 with the awards ceremony.

The program is funded by sponsors and does not take equity in the participating companies. New sponsors announced this year are Pfizer and the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, who join existing sponsors including Fidelity Investments, Verizon, The Deshpande Foundation and Fan Pier.

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