Dev758 – St. Lucian tech start-up wins CTEP Regional Finals

(Press Release) – St. Lucia-based startup, Dev758 Solutions – the tech start-up behind the LEAP Marketplace app – has emerged as 1 of 2 Idea Stage winners of the Caribbean Tech Entrepreneurs Program (CTEP) Regional Competition Finals.

Dev758 Solutions was 1 of 40 finalists who competed for more than US$40,000 in cash prizes; direct access to The Branson Center in Jamaica and other prizes.
Leap Marketplace is a mobile and web application which serves as a platform for local craftsmen, artisans, fashion designers and hobbyists to market and sell their products with added business support such as payment processing and delivery services.
“It was an extremely challenging but rewarding experience. In the end, I am a better entrepreneur and my idea is one step closer to fruition”, said Jason Cassius – founder of Dev758 Solutions.

Cassius, was 1 of nearly 170 entrepreneurs from the various Caribbean countries enrolled in the CTEP regional competition.

CTEP was organized by Caribbean Development Bank in partnership with the Caribbean Climate Innovation Center. The competition was divided into 3 stages of business: idea stage; validation stage and revenue stage.

One hundred and sixty-four entrepreneurs from various Caribbean countries participated in the 3-month long initiative.
Each course was facilitated by business and tech industry leaders throughout the Caribbean and the rest of the world. The participants were required to create business plans, in the form of a pitch deck, develop early stage prototypes and produce a pitch video for their idea or product.

Cassius impressed the judges from the early stages with his outstanding participation in the workshops, mentor sessions, assignments and the innovativeness of his pitch (business proposal). For his effort, he is 1 of 6 winners (2 in each stage) who will each receive a grant of varying amounts to continue with his tech start-up. This was Cassius’ second tech start-up competition. In December 2016, he also participated in PitchIT Caribbean Challenge 2.0, where he placed in the top 25 semi-finalists.

The eventual winners of the CTEP Regional Competition were Dev758 Solutions (St Lucia) and HIVE (St Lucia), Caribonix (Dominica), KaribFusion (Antigua & Barbuda), EcoCarib Inc (St Lucia) and Reneescentsationz (Grenada).