Update: The following piece was revised to include additional quotations.
Alex Tavares of T-Var EdTech, whose Read Read product looks to help streamline reading education for both the blind and the sighted, won big at Cox Business RI's #GetStartedRI pitch competition last night at the Waterfire Arts Center in Providence.
His $50,000 prize package included $25,000 in cash, mentorship with local incubator BetaSpring, Cox Business services, and exposure and interviews with local outlets.
“I am overjoyed to win the Get Started Rhode Island business pitch competition," Tavares said in an email to Rhode Island Inno. "The media attention provides T-var EdTech with a platform to educate the public about the pervasive illiteracy crisis affecting children, especially children who are visually impaired and blind, and the prize package enables us to begin scaling production of the Read Read to help more children in need."
Linden Wyatt, of Optera Diagnostics, which uses a special, patented platform to “distinguish strongly between healthy and cancerous tissue," won the Audience Choice award and a prize of $3,000. "The #Get StartedRI pitch contest was a great experience," said Wyatt in an email to Rhode Island Inno. "Our goal is to commercialize our cancer tissue analysis, and our winnings at the competition are going to help us make this goal a reality."
Tavares and Wyatt were among four other finalists at the event, who represented a variety of industries and are all Rhode Island-born, as per competition rules. They included Richard McDonald and Clemens Grave, of Finnest, a prepaid debit card app for kids; Nico Enriquez of Farmer Willie’s, a startup that makes a healthy, alcoholic ginger beer; Vishnu Dantu of Predictive Optics, which provides “a continuous imaging system” that integrates with “surgical scopes and allow neurosurgeons to more accurately visualize tumorous regions for extraction," and Victor Ricci of Trend Pie, a program for social influencers and content specialists that aids in increased social media following for lower costs, an earlier Rhode Island Inno report states.
Panelists judging the event included Providence Business News Editor Mark S. Murphy; BetaSpring Managing Director Melissa Withers; Slater Technology Fund Managing Director Thorne Sparkman; Inc. Editor James Ledbetter, and Ken Kraft, Cox Business senior vice president of marketing & sales operations, as moderator.
In addition to the pitch conpetition, the evening included a networking session and discussion hosted by the panelists, with time for audience Q&A. Providence Mayor Jorge Elozra also gave remarks.
Nelson added that he was “encouraged by the energy" at #GetStartedRI. "It’s clear the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Rhode Island," said Cox Business Vice President Ross Nelson. “I really feel we accomplished our goal of bringing together at one event entrepreneurs, startups, incubators and accelerators and business leaders. We need to keep the conversation going and support incredibly important segment of our economy.”
Disclosure: Cox Business is a founding partner of Rhode Island Inno.
