Two startup companies competed among finalists to earn a combined $75,000 in non-dilutive funding in the Alabama Launchpad finale Thursday at Innovation Depot.
Magic City-based DevClarity, co-founded by Will Blackburn and Peter Inge, won the concept stage prize of $25,000. The company is an artificial intelligence-powered platform for proactive developer management. DevClarity aims to allow developers to maximize and streamline operations, while optimizing resource allocation.
“We started this company because we’ve led development teams before, and we’ve seen the difficulties in doing so,” Blackburn said. “We’ve seen developers leave Birmingham and Alabama in general, and we’ve seen tech layoffs recently. We truly believe DevClarity can play a role in creating better, more attractive teams, keeping talent here and avoiding layoffs in the future. This capital gives us a full quarter of runway, with developer help, so that we can mature the platform while we raise seed capital.”
Auburn-based Autonoma, founded by Will Bryan, claimed $50,000, winning the early-seed stage competition. Autonoma creates autonomous vehicle simulation and validation tools. It combines an AV simulator with high-bandwidth, low-latency wireless communications to allow a real vehicle to "see" a virtual environment around it. This allows for what the startup intends to be a safer transition from simulation to on-road operation and it is "much cheaper and more efficient than current validation methods," according to a news release.
“I think the real value I’ve gotten is the advice and mentorship I’ve gotten from the Launch Advisors throughout this process,” Bryan said. “Their decades of experience will provide even more than a check does, and winning Alabama Launchpad really will help us accelerate our next stage of growth.”
Each of the 10 finalist companies received two months of mentorship, through both one-on-one and group session training with startup founders and business experts, to prepare for the finale judging panels.
The early-seed stage companies were evaluated by three judges: Taylor Peake, founder and president of MotionMobs; Maayan Gordon, managing partner at RTG Group Inc and founder of Maayan Gordon Media; and Ben Wallerstein, CEO and co-founder of Whiteboard Advisors.
The concept stage competition included a panel of three judges: J. Wesley Legg, president and chief operating officer at Founders Advisors; Martha Underwood, founder of Prismm; and Bryan Stewart, founder and CEO of HDO Health.
“To have a front seat to the innovative companies that are in Alabama, doing amazing things, is rewarding and proof and evidence that Alabama’s open for business,” Underwood said. “There is a talent pipeline here, and larger companies can come here to access people and resources to scale. People think Alabama is not the place to come to because of the history here, but when they come here and see programs like Alabama Launchpad and high-tech companies, like DevClarity and Autonoma, they realize their perception was wrong. Alabama is the place to build.”
Launchpad has funded 117 Alabama startups since its inception in 2006. Over the past 16 years, Launchpad awarded more than $6 million in non-dilutive funding to the winning companies, which today have an estimated combined post-money valuation of more than $1 billion and employ more than 1,300 people.
The program has funded growing companies like TaxxWiz — now SmartWiz — , CHONEX, Vulcan Line Tools, Immediate and more by offering prize money for its pitch competition.
The Launchpad Cycle 1 2024 applications will open Jan. 2.
