A #1 vs. a #13, and a rematch of last year's final.
Those are the semifinal matchups that are now set for this year's Inno Madness competition.
After two rounds of voting, our original field of 16 companies is down to four. Society Brands, the top seed in this year's Inno Madness bracket, has moved through the field and next will take on #13 seed Champ Titles, which has won consecutive matchups against higher seeds.
Still standing on the other side of our Inno Madness bracket are the two finalists from last year's competition: Cleveland Kitchen, last year's runner-up and this year's #2 seed, and SPR Therapeutics Inc., a #6 seed this year but last year's Inno Madness winner.
We launched this year's Inno Madness competition at the start of the month. The goal of Inno Madness is to offer a glimpse of some of the companies working in the innovation space in Northeast Ohio.
Learn more about the program and all 16 companies in this year's field here.
Voting is now open for the semifinals. You can cast your votes through Sunday, March 26. Read the contest rules here.
Here's more about the four companies in the semifinals:
Semifinal #1
#1 Society Brands: Canton-based Amazon aggregator Society Brands began its 2022 by raising $204 million in debt and equity in its first institutional capital raise. Led by co-founder and CEO Michael Sirpilla, the company proceeded to add to its staff, acquire several online brands and develop technologies intended to generate growth and efficiencies for those brands.
#13 Champ Titles: Champ Titles uses technology to speed up the automobile title transfer process. The Cleveland company, led by Shane Bigelow as CEO, raised $12.9 million in a Series B round of financing last fall. That followed an $8.5 million Series A investment in August 2021.
Semifinal #2
#2 Cleveland Kitchen: A finalist in last year's Inno Madness competition, Cleveland Kitchen makes fresh-fermented foods such as kimchi and pickles. The company last summer closed a $19 million funding round intended in part to help Cleveland Kitchen complete its acquisition of Sonoma Brinery, a California-based pickle and sauerkraut maker. Co-founder Drew Anderson is Cleveland Kitchen's CEO.
#6 SPR Therapeutics Inc.: The winner of last year's Inno Madness competition, SPR Therapeutics Inc. has developed the Sprint Peripheral Nerve Stimulation system to relieve chronic pain without the use of opioids or surgery. Maria Bennett is founder, president and CEO of the Highland Hills company. She said in an interview last year that the growing company anticipates "the true trajectory of revenue growth to occur in 2023."
Cast your vote now, and check back next week to find out which two companies have advanced to this year's Inno Madness final.
