After weeks of close-fought battles, we're excited to announce our second annual First Coast Inno Madness winner: PeerLyfe.
With the contest coming down to the wire, PeerLyfe overtook 2022's winner NLP Logix in the final round, with roughly 71% of the votes.
Since voting began, First Coast Inno Madness had thousands of votes spread between the 16 companies that were vying for the title. The level of engagement ties in with the whole point of the friendly competition: raising awareness for the innovative companies the First Coast has to offer.
Companies like PeerLyfe and NLP Logix and the other competitors are just some of the innovative startups, fast-growing tech companies and others that are reshaping the local economy. The level of participation in Inno Madness is indicative of the First Coast's growing innovation economy, which has seen growing momentum through events like the inaugural Jacksonville Venture Competition, PS27's Female Founders Forum and Crowley Maritime's impending innovation expo.
Meet the Winner:
PeerLyfe
CEO: Lyman Starmer
PeerLyfe CEO Lyman Starmer, 19, launched his first innovative platform — Highlands Marketing — while still a student at Wolfson High School. Highlands sought to connect local vendors with local restaurants through advertising placemats.
Although covid-19 wiped out the effort, Starmer didn't let that deter his spirit. The tech-savvy teen graduated from high school and pivoted his social media platform company Perspective to create PeerLyfe — a private social engagement platform designed for and by those who live in age-restricted communities.
Founded in 2022, Starmer has already raised $600,000 in funding through varied angel investors, many of whom are repeat investors from Perspective.
Read more about PeerLyfe here.
