With a $100,000 cash prize and 14 weeks until Demo Day, GigTank launched in Chattanooga earlier this week. The startup accelerator, hosted at CO.LAB, is connecting eight teams of entrepreneurs to mentors, investors and potential customers to help accelerate the launch of their companies.

"The momentum around GigTank has been building for months, and we're excited that our entrepreneurs have finally arrived in Chattanooga," said CO.LAB CEO Charlie Brock. "Every team has brought an idea that they're passionate about, and that passion is contagious. We're ready to help them get started, get connected and ultimately launch successful companies."

Over the course of the summer, teams will develop their business ideas under the mentorship of experienced entrepreneurs and investors – and have access to a range of resources including the fastest Internet in the Western Hemisphere, 1 Gigabit/second broadband that will enable accelerated research and development and beta testing in their industries.

The eight entrepreneur teams are working in a wide array of technology markets:

•       Ariagora helps independent musicians connect directly with fans in new and profitable ways. 

•       BioStash is reinventing the way scientists work. By providing a modern UI and integrating with existing command line tools, BioStash will remove information roadblocks for today’s scientists and labs.

•       HD Fantasy Football uses live HD video to personalize and increase social interaction in the fantasy football experience.

•       Iron Gamer is building a new social gaming experience through live competitive events and interactive streaming content.

•       Silver Communities facilitates remote medical services for the elderly and provides other social and health-related software.

•       Corpora uses Twitter status updates and other public data to determine the health of users by geography, providing insights into the spread of illness and quantifying the impact of previously elusive factors on public health.

•       TourRaiser connects artists to their fans by raising capital for tours and letting fans vote to determine show locations.

•       911View produces video-focused mobile apps for public safety professionals and dispatchers, enhancing the benefits of emergency services for the public.

Two of the entrepreneur teams, Ariagora and Corpora, were recruited through a social networking competition called the Geek Hunt, where potential applicants were tagged on Facebook or Twitter. The taggers who helped CO.LAB recruit Ariagora and Corpora each won $1,000 for their efforts.

Sponsors, mentors and judges of the program include major companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Mozilla, IBM Venture Capital Group, and many others. For more information and updates leading up to the August 9 demo day, visit http://colab.is/gigtank.

Eight teams of entrepreneurs have been chosen to participate in the GigTank, a 14-week entrepreneur accelerator program taking place in the summer of 2012. Under the mentorship of successful entrepreneurs and investors, the teams will launch startups and develop their concepts using the 1 Gigabit/second network in Chattanooga. The team with the most viable business will win a cash prize of $100,000 at the end of the program. The GigTank student track is being hosted by Chattanooga venture incubator Lamp Post Group and begins on June 11.