WASHINGTON–AARP Innovation Labs named Sunu as the winner of its 2019 Grand Pitch Finale, the culminating pitch event featuring 10 innovative startups that have won selective pitch competitions throughout year. Artiphon won second place and Loro received third place, as determined by audience vote, at Wednesday night’s Grand Finale Pitch event. The ten participating startups had solutions focused on addressing social isolation.

As the winner, Sunu receives $5,000. The Sunu Band enables people who are low vision and blind to travel with confidence. Artiphon, which received $3,000 for its second place finish, is the first instrument that lets you strum, slide, tap, and drum any sound on a single interface. Loro, which received $2,000 for third place, is a smart personalized companion giving people with limited mobility the freedom to connect with the world.

The seven other participating startups included:

• Golden gives you the tools and resources to guide you in improving your parent's financial health
• Intuition Robotics’ ElliQ is a friendly, intelligent, inquisitive presence in your daily life - there for you, in your corner, offering tips and advice, responding to your questions, surprising you with suggestions
• Pong Tech’s mobile robotic product that help users stay healthy, live independently longer, and improve quality of life
• Story Up offers a data driven platform that utilizes virtual reality for story telling
• Wahve is a contract staffing talent solution that brings companies and pretiring professionals together across the country to meet their work needs
• With the Band is an app that helps fans & artists create and join fan projects & meet ups
• VideoBomb empowers fans by allowing them to add their own content into their favorite music videos and share their creations.

AARP Innovation Labs is committed to engaging with the best and brightest startups to identify challenges and solves issues that impact us all as we age.

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About AARP

AARP is the nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence and nearly 38 million members, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org or follow @AARP and @AARPadvocates on social media.