Billing itself as the largest worldwide startup competition for women and diverse entrepreneurs, the SoGal Global Pitch Competition kicked off its Dallas stop a Capital Factory with 13 startups pitching their ideas to local investor judges, in the hopes of making it to the finals and a potential $600,000 investment.
The global competition takes place in 25 cities, across five continents. Finalists are chosen from each city to compete in the finals in San Francisco, where each startup will take part in a three-day training program and get one-on-one mentorship. The competition was started in response to studies that show women only received about 2.2% of VC funding in 2018.
Lazarus 3D and Rosy Wellness came out on top.
Lazarus 3D is a Houston-based biotech startup focused on making realistic 3D organs for students and doctors to practice on before performing surgery. Doctors are able to upload scans of a patient’s organs, and within 24 hours, Lazarus is able to print a 3D model and ship it back to the doctor.
“What’s really important to us is what difference we are making in the patient,” co-founder Smriti Argawal Zaneveld.
Right now, the models cost about $2,000 each, but Zaneveld said Medicare and insurance will likely be taking over the costs for the models. The startup was launched in 2014, and to date have yet to receive VC funding. However, in the last four years Lazarus has seen 563% growth. Since launching, the company has seen a total revenue of $750,000.
Rosy Wellness is a Dallas-based app focused on helping women with low libido. The app offers users educational videos, short stories and guided audio sessions. The subscription based software was developed by founder Dr. Lyndsey Harper, who practiced as an Ob/Gyn at Dallas’ Baylor Scott & White Health.
While each pitch and entrepreneur were passionate and innovative, here’s a couple others NTX Inno had its eyes on.
DateMatic is a personalized dating and relationship app, focused on helping married couples keep their outings and love life interesting. The app tracks information about the user to suggest interesting date ideas, gift ideas and personalized relationship advice. The startup is in pre-launch and was founded by brothers Steve and Michael Yang.
“Keeping the magic alive it takes a lot of effort,” Steve Yang said at the event. “It’s hard and people need help we’ve found. Doing novel things together is really important to the relationship.”
The app would be free to users, with the option of a membership plan. Instead of focusing solely on users, the co-founders said much of their revenue will come from revenue sharing with experience partners, such as restaurants and theaters. DateMatic has been testing engagement with Facebook ads, and so far, have a 40% engagement rate.
Benincasa Milano is a Dallas-based luxury high-heel shoe brand, started by Maija Benincasa. After studying in Italy as a cobbler and teaming up with her biomedical engineer sister, Benincasa is creating shoes that patent-pending pressure technology to relieve pain for the wearer.
“I believe that if we can go to the moon, there has to be another way to make a high heel,” Benincasa said at the competition.
The brand launched in 2018 and has a full line of shoes and sandals. Since launching, Benincasa Milano has raised about $285,000 in revenue and about 20% of customers own more than one pair. Benincasa said they already have a manufacturer in Italy who is ready to expand with the company. She said the ultimate goal is to be acquired by a fashion house or major retailer.
