Six local entrepreneurs duked it out in The Tank in the downtown Dayton Arcade for a piece of $22,500 and one emerged victorious with the grand prize. Two other prizes were given for the second-place winner and crowd favorite.
On Wednesday Sept. 13, Launch Dayton held their annual Startup Week Pitch Competition Powered by the EC, where six growing startups pitched their business plans in hopes of incorporating new funding into their assets.
The innovation-focused pitch competition is geared toward technology-based companies that are developing intellectual property and want to scale their business broadly to sell beyond the greater Dayton region.
Kilele Health grabbed the $15,000 first prize. The startup is developing a wearable remote continuous patient monitoring cardiometabolic diseases, empowering doctors and patients with accurate real-time data. The data is gathered from a device worn on the arm which can then nbe sent to a doctor for remote telemedicine and consult. The technology aims to save money on readmissions and test monitoring costs for health care providers.
AIMM took second place and the $5,000 prize. The startup is developing a platform technology to address difficult-to-treat water issues, such as forever chemicals, to help provide safe water across the world. For commercialization, AIMM plans to tap into the $80 billion to a $1 trillion market for PFAS cleanup worldwide. Read more about AIMM’s product prototypes.
Crowd favorite Green Zero Energy earned the remaining $2,500 prize. The startup is bringing next-level reliability to portable power generation by providing clean generators that run on any fuel. With 90% of generators running off diesel fuel, Green Zero Energy hopes to break its innovative product into the $900 million aviation market (capturing $3 million in revenue) and an expanded $10 billion market (capturing $48 million in revenue).
Here are some of the other pitch competition finalists:
- Skuld – An advanced materials company focused on new metal manufacturing processes. The startup provides casting and affordable 3D printing for low volume custom metal parts. Their hybrid approach for 3D printed parts in metal is 10x faster, 10x more accurate and 10x cheaper than industry alternatives while creating 37% less global warming gas potentials.
- Medical Interface Solutions – With 800,000 people a year in the U.S. affected by a stroke, the startup is developing AI to detect stroke deficits in the prehospital setting. Their smart device, STROKENEKT, digitally screens for signs of stroke, links EMS by secure video chat to on-demand neurologist and initiates stroke care orders prior to hospital arrival.
- I-Squared Learning Solutions – This startup is developing interactive and inclusive STEM tools young learners. Their technology starts as a storybook which correlates to a phone app where readers can modify the book character to look like them and the communities they’re from. The product’s first book intends to tackle the low percentage of fourth graders who are proficient in math (36%) and engage them in learning. Math problems within the book change each time it’s read, giving a new learning experience every time. A second book is currently in production.
