The 2nd annual Extreme Tech Challenge announces top 10 Semi-Finalists in advance of presenting to top names at CES January 8th 2016. XTC narrowed the pack from over 1,000 submissions for the most innovative and compelling tech pitches, who are vying to make the final three for a chance to present on Sir Richard Branson's very own, Necker Island.

Menlo Park, CA December 01, 2015 -- XTC Semifinals 2016 - CES, Las Vegas, Nevada - Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) has selected 10 semi-finalists to head to Las Vegas for CES 2016, the worlds largest Consumer Electronic Show, where they will present to a panel of distinguished judges including CEO of Consumer Technology Association Gary Shapiro, Founding Partner of Pacific Investments Veronica Serra, and venture capitalist Tim Draper among many other top names in technology on Friday, Jan 8th, 2 - 4pm at the Venetian Bellini Ballroom during a live global broadcast. Three finalists will then be chosen to present on Necker Island, Sir Richard Bransons residence on February 11, 2016 for the chance to receive infrastructure and investment for their business endeavors. The annual CES takes place January 6th - 9th, 2016 and anticipates over 170,000 attendees at the upcoming gathering.

Ahead of CES 2016, the Top 10 semi-finalists will be formally announced Sunday November 29th via live broadcast on NBC Bay Area's Press Here, in the same city where the Top 25 unveiling occurred earlier this month. The semi-finalists were selected from an applicant pool of over 2000 teams from across the world, consisting of leading innovators and spanning a wide spectrum of consumer industries.

Ranging from the more-familiar to the veritably unknown, the Top 10 cover an immense variety of topics featuring entries from cutting-edge RNA cancer-fighting research company Genomic Expression, food intake analysts SmartPlate, robotic technology from two distinct participants MegaBots, Inc.. and Sphero, wearable prenatal analytics developed by Bloom Technologies, and even touching on the edgy topic of the cannabis legalization with a social network platform created by MassRoots. Rounding out the Top 10 semi-finalists are Captive Media, Kickfurther, GIROPTIC, and Sixense Entertainment, Inc. whose focus on creating the only fully immersive Virtual Retail shopping platform has catapulted them to the top of the list of contenders for this years competition. See below for the full list of semi-finalists.

XTC is presented in part by MaiTai Global, a vanguard collective of the worlds leading entrepreneurs, creators, and athletes. Participants combine their energy, network and resources to help each other achieve professional success, pushing the limits of work and play while also fueling philanthropic activities around the world.

In anticipation of their incredible calendar of events surrounding XTC, MaiTai has released a stunning teaser video, which aptly describes the stringent process of narrowing down the applicant pool, and showcases the challenge awaiting future applicants. The leaders of XTC describe in detail their overarching vision for the challenge and what they aim to accomplish, against the beautiful backdrop that encompasses Necker Island.

Website: http://extremetechchallenge.com/