Two Birmingham-based startups have won their respective categories during the third Alabama Launchpad competition in 2021.
The two startups won a combined $75,000 in non-dilutive funding.
Milkman, which entered its first product called Mealvana into the concept stage competition, won a $25,000 prize. Milkman is building technologies to enable digitization, personalization and optimization for future food retail to help people eat healthy as well as save time. Mealvana leaders say the company brings that concept forward with an app that enables easier meal planning.
“In Alabama, the entrepreneurship community is so tightly connected. It’s easy for us to find a network to help grow our company, but Alabama Launchpad helped expedite that process,” said Xuan Huang, co-founder and data analyst for Mealvana. “Our food retail technology company is primed to be here, especially with successes like Shipt in the state.”
The $50,000 seed stage prize went to CAVU. The company plans to help businesses and people move faster and solve human problems by making training, coaching and community accessible to more people through its dedicated social learning platform.
“This experience has exposed us to so many different mentors and advisers, alongside providing so much amazing information,” said Rebecca Dobrinski, chief content officer of CAVU. “Alabama Launchpad has made us take a good look at how we’re doing things, and it has made us a better and stronger company.”
Each category was judged by three judges. Concept stage judges included LaKami Baker, foundation professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Auburn University; Christa Cotton, founder and CEO of El Guapo Bitters in New Orleans; and Mitesh Shah, vice president and general manager of the Alabama Division at Vulcan Materials. For the seed stage competition, the three judges were Mary Drennen, co-founder at Nourish Meals; Mike Girouard, executive vice president of Sales at Aesto Health; and Bryan Ledbetter, manager of IT at Robins & Morton.
"We are rounding out the year strong with Mealvana and CAVU taking home the title of Alabama Launchpad winners,” said Miller Girvin, executive vice president of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at EDPA. “We began 2021with changes to the Alabama Launchpad programming, with the goal of having more entrepreneurs impacted by increased mentorship efforts. All of our finalists, especially winners Mealvana and CAVU, have potential for tremendous growth.”
