Louisville-based GoodMaps continues to prove its mettle when it comes to pitch competitions on big stages.
In January, the tech company took home first place at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation’s annual CES pitch competition in Las Vegas.
On Aug. 31, the company was awarded $1 million for winning the software category of the pitch competition of the inaugural Rally, an innovation conference in Indianapolis. It was in the running with four other companies, two of which were in other countries (Canada and Estonia by way of Mongolia).
“The distinctions are all fantastic,” GoodMaps President and COO Theresa Reno-Weber said. “It’s great when they come with extra fuel for the company from a financial standpoint.”
Reno-Weber was the sole presenter of the two-minute presentation. She is no stranger to speaking in front of large audiences, having done so plenty of times when serving as the CEO and president of Metro United Way in Louisville before joining the GoodMaps team in December.
The two-minute pitch she gave, though, in a “‘Shark Tank’-like” format represented the first time she did so as a member of a startup. After the pitch, she had to answer a series of five questions from a panel of judges, one of whom was Patrick Henshaw, the managing director of Louisville-based Render Capital.
“It was great for me because I had to do my homework to make sure I understood every single component of our business,” Reno-Weber said.
There were 443 companies that applied to take part in the competition from 44 countries, according to a news release. Reno-Weber said her team found out GoodMaps was one of the 25 finalists in June, before being assigned a pitch coach, Jeanette Renshaw, managing partner of Growth, an early-stage venture capital fund.
It should be noted that there were five other categories consisting of four startups competing for $1 million each. Those were ag and food, hardtech, health care and sportstech. Out of the five winners — only GoodMaps was not based on one of the U.S. coasts.
Side note: Louisville-based Wicked Technologies was named as one of the alternates in the health care category.
Big raise in the works
Founded in 2019 by American Printing House for the Blind (APH) under the name Access Explorer, GoodMaps uses mobile scanners to capture LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) point clouds and images, which then convert into digital maps of interiors of buildings.
The company, headquartered out of 1741 Frankfort Ave. in Louisville, currently has a headcount of 35, but is currently in the process of a significant hiring effort. Reno-Weber told me that as part of the stipulations to receive the $1 million investment, GoodMaps must have a full-time, C-suite level position or founder be based in Indiana for a minimum of a year.
Reno-Weber said how the investment will be used is up in the air. One option is to use it to elongate the company’s runway. Another option is to use it towards a Series A raise that will happen in early 2024 of $12 million to $15 million.
The Rally Conference, billed as the “world’s largest cross-sector innovation conference,” according to the release, took place Aug. 29-31 at the Indiana Convention Center. The conference, which had more than 3,000 in attendance according to Reno-Weber, was spearheaded by Indianapolis-based venture capital company Elevate Ventures.
It was slated to feature presentations from several members of the Kentuckiana entrepreneurial ecosystem including Henshaw, Ankur Gopal, CEO of Interapt; Julia Regan, founder and CEO of RxLightning; Jackson Andrews, founding managing director of Endeavor Louisville; and Harry Wilson IV, CEO and co-founder of LimitlessMinds.
The 2024 event has already been set for Aug. 27-29.
