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Magic Sudoku: Wins Golden Kitty Award for top augmented reality app in 2017

Magic Sudoku
January 30, 2018

For being a side project, Magic Sudoku is receiving a lot of recognition.

Last September, Brad Dwyer went through a three-week crash course in augmented reality app development, which resulted in Magic Sudoku, a mobile app that solves Sudoku puzzles using the new augmented reality features on the iPhone.

On Monday, Magic Sudoku won the Golden Kitty Award for “Top AR App” in 2017. The awards are meant as a celebration of, “Awesome products and makers” from Product Hunt.

Voting for the Golden Kitty Awards started Monday, Jan. 22 and ended Sunday, Jan. 28. The product with the largest number of upvotes in each category at the end of the voting period was crowned the winner.

Dwyer said Magic Sudoku was nominated by his friend George Jurgens and the core Hatchlings team found out they won on Monday while flying back from the Hatchlings 10th Anniversary Party in Las Vegas.

“My phone blew up with messages as soon as we landed,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer said the award they receive is literally a golden kitty. Once that arrives, they will celebrate appropriately.

“There’s a running gag with the Product Hunt guys trying to get Elon Musk to take a selfie with his two from last year,” Dwyer said.

Early days for the augmented reality industry

Magic Sudoku was developed and released by Des Moines-based Hatchlings in September of 2017. By pointing the camera at a Sudoku puzzle, the app uses Apple’s new IOS feature ARKit, “Vision” and “CoreML” to quickly analyze and fill out the blank squares.

Because of how quickly Magic Sudoku was developed and released to the market, Dwyer says it proves how early it is in the augmented reality industry.

“There aren’t really any entrenched incumbents,” Dwyer says. “All it takes to get noticed and be successful is having a novel idea with great execution. There is a ton of opportunity to help shape the industry as it expands and evolves even as a small company.”

Dwyer said that for 2018, their goal is for ten percent of Hatchlings revenue to come from their AR apps. Hatchlings has released Magic Sudoku and Nose Zone.

Dwyer said a third AR app could be released this year.

“We have a lot of irons in the fire,” Dwyer says. “We’ve definitely been working on Magic Sudoku v2 but although it has gotten a ton of critical acclaim, we haven’t cracked the business model quite yet. We’re still in the experimentation phases of augmented reality.”

Previous Coverage

Hatchlings: Celebrating a decade in 2018 – Dec. 4, 2017

Magic Sudoku: Solving puzzles with augmented reality – Sept. 25, 2017

Magic Sudoku: Wins Golden Kitty Award for top augmented reality app in 2017 | Clay & Milk
A central Iowa ag-tech accelerator has secured more backers and finally has a name. The Greater Des Moines Partnership first announced the accelerator last year, naming four initial investors. On Monday, the Partnership said the program will be called the "Iowa AgriTech Accelerator" and named three new investors. The new investors include Grinnell Mutual, Kent Corp. and Sukup Manufacturing, all Iowa companies. They join investors Deere & Co., Peoples Co., Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. and DuPont Pioneer. Each investor has agreed to put up $100,000 for the first year of the accelerator. Startups entering the program will receive $40,000 in seed funding in exchange for 6 percent equity. Tej Dhawan, an angel investor and local startup mentor, is serving as interim director until the AgriTech Accelerator names a permanent leader. Dhawan held a similar role with the GIA before Brian Hemesath was named as managing director. As interim director, Dhawan said his main job includes hiring the accelerator's executive director, establishing a business structure and initial recruiting for the first cohort. The accelerator will place few filters, such as location and product, on the applicant pool, Dhawan said. "When you’re seeking innovation, innovation can come from every corner of the world so why restrict ourselves," he said. One area the the AgriTech Accelerator won't recruit from is biotech. For its first cohort, the AgriTech Accelerator will work out of the GIA's space in Des Moines' East Village, Dhawan said. A future, permanent home is still to be decided. The accelerator's program will host startups from mid-July through mid-October, ending with an event connected to the annual World Food Prize. The GIA, which the AgriTech Accelerator is based on, also ends with presentations at an industry event. The accelerator has also started lining up a mentor pool. The Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have agreed to provide mentors, as has Iowa State University. While the AgriTech Accelerator is loosely based off of the GIA, it will differ in its business structure, Dhawan said. The GIA runs through a for-profit model for both operations and its investment fund. The AgriTech Accelerator will have a nonprofit model for its operations and a for-profit setup for its fund. Dhawan said the nonprofit model is being used so the accelerator can better work with other nonprofit partners, such as trade associations. "These are all organizations that are nonprofits and can be amazing stakeholders without ever having to be investors in the accelerator," he said. "It becomes easier to work with trade associations in their nonprofit role when we are also a nonprofit." When it's up and running, the AgriTech Accelerator would be one of a handful of ag-focused startup development programs in Iowa. Others include the Ag Startup Engine out of Iowa State University and the Rural Ventures Alliance from Iowa MicroLoan. Matthew Patane is the managing editor and co-founder of Clay & Milk. Send him an email at mpatane@clayandmilk.com.
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