Aleksandra Brakov, owner of Cafilia, a coffee-subscription tech platform, took home the $1,500 top prize at a tech-focus pitch event hosted Thursday evening by JumpStart Inc.
Jay Fogle and Karan'Ja Williams also received prize money for their technology startups at the first of three Pitch Cypher events that will culminate at this year's FutureLand conference in Cleveland.
Pitch Cypher celebrates Cleveland entrepreneurs who are Black, Indigenous and people of color with three pitch events and a chance to win up to $25,000 in non-dilutive funding at a grand finale, JumpStart, the venture development organization based in Cleveland, said on Friday.
Pitch Cypher was launched in 2022 to spotlight diverse tech founders in Cleveland while fostering community for like-minded creatives, entrepreneurs and innovators, JumpStart said.
The pitch competition is led by Camille Heard, an entrepreneur-in-residence at JumpStart and supported by the President's Council, Urban League of Greater Cleveland, ECDI and Hispanic Business Center, JumpStart said.
During Thursday's competition, leaders of five local tech startups delivered five-minute business pitches to a panel of judges. The judges selected the winner, with feedback from audience voters, JumpStart said.
Participants in this Pitch Cypher round were:
- Karan'Ja Williams of PenWill Automated Retail — an automated retail machines with inclusive hair and beauty products on university campuses.
- Jay Fogle of Lokul App — a one-stop shop for locating and promoting minority-owned businesses.
- Aleksandra Brankov of Cafilia — a coffee subscription platform offering pay-with-your-cup convenience.
- Ryan Lawrence of Style.Re — a provider of convenient and fast fashion retail delivery services.
- Myron Jones of Entang — a social platform for adult content creators to match and chat.
