Awesome Inc., a Lexington, Kentucky-based entrepreneur support organization, recently announced its fall 2022 cohort, following the graduation of four companies from its fellowship program.
The new group consists of two startups from Louisville, one from Lexington and one from Paducah, Kentucky.
Here is a rundown of the incoming class:
PrepSharp — Originating from three co-founders who work at Equitas Prep in Downtown Louisville, PrepSharp provides users access to bubble sheets, answer keys, scales and other standardized prep resources for the ACT and SAT. The co-founders are in the process of creating a software-as-an-service (SaaS) experience catered to the changing needs of tutors — with full instructional autonomy. PrepSharp made waves this past year by taking home $100,000 as one of eight winners in Render Capital’s annual competition.
Party Horses — The main goal of this Louisville-based startup is to provide users with exclusive fan experiences and perks that are tied to Kentucky and the bourbon scene through a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs), available through MetaMask, Ethereum or OpenSea. It won Awesome Inc.’s 5 Across Entrepreneur Pitch Competition in February, and had its first major “party” on May 6, the day of the Kentucky Oaks.
MiniGrip — A finalist for the December 2022 5 Across event on Dec. 7, the Lexington-based startup sells portable bottle openers that are small enough to fit on a keychain. The products feature a patent-pending, dual-surface design that allow them to open twist-tops and lids of increasing difficulty.
Ujoin — As the first cohort member from Paducah, Ujoin provides users a grassroots advocacy app aimed at helping to gain “policy wins.” Its founder, Kory Payne, had worked on nonpartisan grassroots policy campaigns for 15 years before he created the platform. According to its website, the app has served thousands of stakeholders from several countries since it was launched in 2015.
Since the program’s beginning in 2014, the Awesome Fellowship has accelerated the growth of 70 startups — while creating more than 520 jobs in Kentucky and attracting approximately $110 million in external funding.
Awesome Inc. is one of six innovation hubs under KY Innovation, with Amplify in Louisville, Blue North in Northern Kentucky, GroWest in Western Kentucky, SOAR in Eastern Kentucky and CREATE – Central Region Ecosystem for Arts, Technology and Entrepreneurship.
