Ding! Ding! Ding! Five U.S. entrepreneurs, including FitBark from Kansas City, are still on their feet as competitors in the “Get in the Ring: The American Startup Clash,” hosted by the Kauffman Foundation.

Chosen from more than 250 applicants, the U.S. finalists will move on to the North American contest on Nov. 6 and 7 at the Midland Theatre, where they will compete with their most hard-hitting startup pitches against five finalists each from Canada and Mexico.

A panel of 10 judges from nationally known business incubators, accelerators, entrepreneurship organizations and media companies reviewed both written applications and video submissions from 20 U.S. semifinalists to come up with the top five. They are:

• Briteseed, Chicago: This medical-device company promotes innovative technologies to help patients and lessen health care costs. Its SafeSnips technology integrates real-time blood vessel detection into existing laparoscopic and robotic cutting devices.

• FitBark, Kansas City: The maker of the world’s smallest wireless activity monitor for dogs combines wearable technology and refined design to help dog owners better understand their animal companion’s health and behavior so they can take better care of them.

• Hydrobee, Seattle: Creating a renewable energy platform to provide backup power for USB devices, this company’s portable USB turbine generates personal power from nature. Water, wind, sun, fire or even human strength can be used to charge multiple cell phones, a tablet PC or an LED lamp all night long.

• Identified Technologies, Pittsburgh: This firm utilizes unmanned aerial systems for data gathering and sensing in dangerous surroundings. It delivers quick, secure and more frequent data to energy and construction companies, without human intervention.

• Spot On Sciences, Austin, Texas: Developing devices that revolutionize the collection and storage of biological fluids for medical research and diagnostic testing, this company’s dried-blood-spot technology offers simplified remote blood collection. The result is that anyone can take a blood sample at any time or anywhere.

The North American “Get in the Ring” champ will travel to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to go up against winners from six other global regions—South America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe,

Northern Europe and Southern Europe—as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.